Confirmed case of COVID at LC High School
Authorities have identified a confirmed case of COVID-19 in a student or staff member at L’Anse Creuse High School in Harrison Township.
In a letter addressed to parents and guardians, school leaders say the Macomb County Health Department and school officials worked together to perform contact tracing to identify anyone who may have been exposed to the individual. No further information was released concerning the infected person.
“If your child was identified as a close contact, you have already received notification from building administration,” Major Mickens, the school principal, said in the letter. “All close contact individuals have been identified and contact by High School Administration.”
Students who have not been contacted by L’Anse Creuse officials by Monday night were not in close contact with the infected person and “should continue to attend school as normal,” the principal wrote to parents.
Mickens reminded parents and guardians that it is “extremely important” for them to complete at-home health screening each day on their students, including a temperature check, before sending them off to school.
COVID-19 is a highly contagious disease that primarily attacks the respiratory system. Symptoms can include fever, cough, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, a runny or stuff nose, loss of taste or smell, and abdominal pain.
The notification comes about three weeks after the administration and unionized teachers reached a letter of understanding to address union concerns about safe surroundings for inperson instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic.
L’Anse Creuse, Macomb County’s fourth-largest district with approximately 10,500 students, is the largest school system in Macomb to return to school with a full, 5-day in-person instruction plan. The district originally had a start date of Sept. 8, which was later pushed back to Sept. 14 to allow for additional training and building preparation.
Meanwhile, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services on
Monday reported a Macomb County school district has experienced a school-related coronavirus outbreak.
Two students at Utica High School in Shelby Township recently were confirmed as positive for COVID-19, according to the state report. They are among 121 students and staff members in 29 K-12 schools. But the school district reported Tuesday that information was old data. UCS officials state the district hasn’t had a COVID-19 case since before Labor Day.
A COVID-19 outbreak is defined as two or more cases with a link by place and time indicating a shared exposure outside of a household
In neighboring Oakland County, outbreaks were reported in Novi High School involving eight students and two students at Brookfield Academy in Troy, according to the state data.
The health department said Michigan now has 117,406 confirmed infections and 6,665 deaths. Macomb County, which has been tabbed as a COVID-19 “hot spot” in recent weeks, added 147 confirmed cases and one death from over the weekend.