Schools report positive virus cases

Dickenson County schools have experienced five positive cases of COVID-19 since the school year began, according to information posted on the division’s Facebook page.

Meanwhile, Superintendent Haydee Robinson is disputing anonymous allegations that school officials are trying to downplay the potential spread of the virus.

Letters posted on the Facebook page dated Sept. 10, Sept. 8 and Sept. 4 each confirm that a “staff member” tested positive. However, the letters state that each person was not on school premises at the time and did not have direct exposure to other staff, students or the community.

In each case, the letters note that school officials are working with the health department to identify anyone who might have had close contact with the person.

Letters dated Aug. 26 and Aug. 24 state that “a confirmed case has been diagnosed,” but they do not specify whether the cases involve a student or an employee.

In emails Monday and Tuesday, Robinson disputed allegations that all the positive cases involve one school and that one or more employees who tested positive had contact with other people at school afterward.

“Not all the cases have been at one school,” Robinson wrote. “It is my understanding that none of the cases were at work when they were confirmed with COVID-19.”

The health department was immediately contacted in each case to perform contact tracing, according to Robinson, and most of the people who tested positive and/or were quarantined have returned to work.

School officials are not specifying locations, she wrote, because “in our small community, naming the school would jeopardize the privacy and confidentiality of these individuals.” Many of them “are traumatized” by the positive diagnosis and the attached stigma, she added.

Robinson was asked to respond to allegations that a specific employee was around students one day before testing positive. “The information is incorrect.” That person, she wrote, was tested Sunday because a family member was diagnosed with the virus. “It had been nearly 48 hours since they had had contact with students or staff.”

That employee has not returned to work at this time, according to Robinson.

“All of us are taking this pandemic very seriously, and we are doing all possible to keep everyone one safe and healthy,” she wrote. “We are trying to be transparent as possible; we are all doing our very best, and working through each issue. We are educators and not medical personnel. We follow the (health department) guidance faithfully, and contact them several times a day. We are trying to balance confidentiality and privacy issues with informing the public and our staff of confirmed COVID-19 cases.”

Parents and community members are informed on the school system’s social media “because we find that this the most effective way to communicate,” Robinson wrote. “All staff members are informed through email.”

Students are spaced six feet apart in classrooms, according to Robinson, and must wear a mask if six feet of distance is not kept. “This also applies to all teachers,” she wrote, adding that everyone must wear a mask in hallways.