Red Oak Middle & High School School Reports Lab Confirmed COVID-19 Case
UPDATE 8/25/2020: Red Oak ISD addressed the two positive cases on their facebook page this morning with the following statement:
Red Oak- Red Oak ISD campuses welcomed students back for in person learning last Thursday. Despite requiring students to wear masks and additional hand washing and sanitizing procedures, today ROISD reports lab confirmed COVID-19 cases at the middle and high school.
The emails sent out to families of students at the schools states there has been a student “lab confirmed to have COVID-19 present on the campus of Red Oak Middle School on August 24, 2020”. It continues to explain due to privacy laws, no information or details will be released that may identify him/her. The same email was sent to families of students attending Red Oak High School.
All individuals that are determined to be in close contact with the infected individual will be notified. And those staff and students will receive notification from the district or Texas Department of State Health Services. For anyone that was in close contact, they will remain off campus for up to 14 days to make sure they do not have coronavirus. Students will continue as virtual learners during the period they are off campus.
Per TEA guidelines on lab confirmed COVID-19 cases: If an individual who has been in a school is lab-confirmed to have COVID-19, the school must notify its local health department, in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations, including confidentiality requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
2. Schools must close off areas that are heavily used by the individual with the lab-confirmed case (student, teacher, or staff) until the non-porous surfaces in those areas can be disinfected, unless more than 7 days have already passed since that person was on campus.
3. Consistent with school notification requirements for other communicable diseases, and
consistent with legal confidentiality requirements, schools must notify all teachers, staff, and families of all students in a school if a lab-confirmed COVID-19 case is identified among students, teachers or staff who participate on any on campus activities.
The email from ROISD states the impacted areas will be cleaned and no operations will be impacted at this time. Students and staff are reminded to be aware of COVID-19 symptoms and to self-monitor and stay home if they are feeling sick.
