COVID exposures close two 5th grade classes, students return to virtual
POTTSTOWN >> Two fifth-grade classrooms at the Pottstown Middle School have been closed for two weeks.
The closure, and shift to virtual learning, came about as the result of a recommendation from the Montgomery County Office of Public Health, according to a letter posted on the district Facebook page by Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez.
“As a result of contact tracing, and in order to slow any potential spread of COVID-19, the Office of Public Health for Montgomery County has recommended a virtual setting for two of our 5th-grade classrooms at Pottstown Middle School for a period of two weeks starting tomorrow,” Rodriguez wrote. “Meals will be provided to students via delivery service starting Wednesday morning.”
“A letter was sent home to all affected students and contact was initiated to all parents as well. Anyone who has had potential close contact exposure has had communication from the school. If you have not received any direct communication from school personnel, then the only action you should take is to continue to watch for the symptoms,” Rodriguez wrote.
The action comes four days after Rodriguez notified the school community that “we have had multiple students and staff test positive or be ‘presumed positive’ with Covid-19 based on symptoms. We have also had close contact exposures because students have been sent to school symptomatic. If the situation does not improve, we could have serious operational issues that could affect our current program offering,” wrote on Aug. 26.
He pleaded with parents not to send sick children to school.
“Please do not send your child/children to school if your child/children: Experiences (1) one of the following symptoms: cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, or new loss of taste or smell; OR Experiences (2) two of the following symptoms: fever, chills, fatigue, myalgia (muscle pain), headaches, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea; AND/OR Lives in the same household with a sibling/family member that qualifies to stay home based on No. 1 or 2 above,” he wrote.
Rodriguez added, “if your child/children are being tested and/or awaiting test results, they should stay home.”
Rodriguez concluded that parents should “rest assured that safety is our top priority and after that we will do all we can to safeguard in person instruction five days per week.”
The situation in schools remains a balancing act, with arguments over mask mandates being balanced against everyone’s desire for children to receive inperson education five days a week.
The news also comes as Montgomery County added nearly 600 news COVID-19 cases and three deaths over the last weekend in August.
Additionally, 118 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 at various medical centers in Montgomery County, with 13 patients on ventilators, according to the county’s online data hub.