Three cases in two days; PUSD to meet with Public Health today
By Debra Moore
In the wake of the third positive case on a school campus this week, and the surge in confirmed cases across the county, Plumas Unified School District Superintendent Terry Oestreich is meeting with the county’s public health officials this morning, Nov. 13. (A fourth school case was also confirmed this week for a Long Valley charter school site in Portola, but that is not under the jurisdiction of Plumas Unified.)
Oestreich made the announcement last night after receiving notification of a positive case at Quincy High School. This follows the announcement the day prior in which one case was confirmed at Chester Elementary School and another at Quincy Elementary School on the Alder Street campus.
The school district has not released any information regarding the specific cases except for site location. Oestreich said the district is protecting patient privacy so information as to whether the cases are students, teachers or other staff members has not been revealed.
Following her meeting with public health officials this morning, Oestreich will be meeting virtually with all school principals in the early afternoon to discuss the situation.
Contact tracing is underway for the positive cases, and the impacted students and their families will be notified by a representative of the Public Health Agency as to next steps to be taken.
In addition, the principals at each school site contacted the parents of affected classrooms. Those students will revert to distance learning for two weeks.
The Thanksgiving holiday is approaching and schools are scheduled to be on break from Nov. 23 through Nov. 27; returning to the classroom Nov. 30. That is to be followed by three weeks of instruction before the Christmas break scheduled for Dec. 21 though Dec. 31, returning to the classroom Jan. 4.
Plumas Charter School was set to follow that schedule as well, but Executive Director Taletha Washburn said that her school board voted last week to not return to the classroom, until Dec. 7, providing an extra week away from the school site following Thanksgiving. Instead, students will distance learn during that period. The extra week now is also scheduled following the Christmas break with students scheduled to return to on-campus instruction Jan. 11.
