SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Two Utah schools have halted in-person classes and shifted to online learning because of coronavirus outbreaks during the first weeks of the school year.
The American Preparatory Academy charter school closed its elementary campus in Draper on Tuesday after 15 students and staffers tested positive for COVID-19, executive director Carolyn Sharette told The Salt Lake Tribune.
“We’re just pivoting,” Sharette said. “I assume this will happen at all schools eventually.”
That followed Alpine School District’s announcement Monday that it was closing Pleasant Grove High School near Orem for two days. The school will shift to a mix of online and in-person classes after reporting a cluster of coronavirus cases.
District spokeswoman Kimberly Bird declined to say how many infections occurred at that high school, the Tribune reported. She said that across the district, the largest in the state, 67 cases had been detected throughout its 91 schools, including 41 students and 26 faculty members.
Pleasant Grove High School is scheduled to reopen Thursday, when students will be split into two groups and begin attending in-person classes every other day to reduce the number of students in the building at one time.
Utah schools began reopening last month with in-person classes, online learning and a hybrid of both in some cases. In some districts, parents could choose which option they wanted for their children.
Under state guidelines, if three students in a classroom of 15 children test positive for COVID-19, the school must change to online instruction.
At American Preparatory Academy, the infected students and staff are isolating and those who were in close contact have been told to quarantine, Sharette said. The school is hoping to bring students back in person on Sept. 11, she said.
In a plan submitted to the state before the school year began, the charter school emphasized the importance of having students on campus.
“Students need to be in school if it is at all possible,” the plan said. “Issues of student academic loss, student mental health deterioration, and lack of supervision for students as parents return to work are real and significant factors which support the need for students to be in school.”
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some - especially older adults and people with existing health problems - it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.