Four new cases of COVID-19 in Delta Junction were reported by local authorities over the weekend, including one involving a person at the local elementary school.
Delta Greely School District officials announced the covid case in a letter to parents posted to the district website on Saturday. The letter says Delta Elementary School will be closed today for deep cleaning but all other district schools will remain open and operating at a medium-risk level of precaution, except the Gerstle River School south of Delta.
Superintendent Shaun Streyle said Sunday that medium risk will among other things require greater emphasis on keeping kids and classrooms as clean as possible.
“Extensive sanitization measures by our custodial staff,” he said. “Extensive hygiene practices – I mean, washing hands every hour, or every class period, including cleaning desks routinely.”
Streyle says school officials also will place greater emphasis on maintaining social distancing between students and staff. And they’ll require people entering the building to have their temperature checked. Facemasks won’t be required, but, he added, “Masking is still strongly encouraged, and we’re still providing access to masks within the school.”
Streyle says school buses will be running today, but he encouraged parents who can to bring their kids to school and pick them up.
“For those parents who are able to drive their children to school, we greatly appreciate your willingness to do so,” he said in an interview Sunday.
Streyle says students and staff at the elementary school who may have been exposed to the person who tested positive have all been advised to quarantine for 14 days.
Three other non-school cases were reported by Friday, according to the Delta COVID-19 Incident Management Team. A news release issued by the team Saturday says local health-care providers reported the cases last week. It says the three probably were caused by community transmission, which makes it difficult to determine the source of the infections.
The covid management team says the four new cases bring the total reported in Delta so far to at least 15, with at least five of those cases still active.
