Hunter
03/05/21
The return to in –person learning at the Iowa City Community School District has resulted in dozens of positive cases of coronavirus, and hundreds in quarantine due to exposure to the virus.
The school suffering the most is Northwest Junior High School in Coralville. Over 100 students are out in quarantine after four students and a staff member tested positive. The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that in an e-mail to families Wednesday, school principal Elizabeth Bruening said that those who tested positive were contagious while at school. With about 700 students attending Northwest Junior High, that means about 15 percent of the student body is out.
The Gazette also reports Penn Elementary has 40 people in quarantine .
Overall, the ICCSD reports 91 students and 8 staff members currently testing positive for COVID-19. 325 students and 15 staff are in quarantine district-wide.
Schools are following quarantine guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which suggests that students in close contact with a positive COVID-19 case, even if both people are wearing masks, should be quarantined.
Johnson County Health assisted the district with contact tracing, and the district continues to follow CDC guidelines for cleaning and disinfecting classrooms and common areas of the schools.