Breaking: Genoa-Kingston High School reports positive coronavirus test

GENOA - Genoa-Kingston announced on Wednesday a student tested positive for the coronavirus at the high school, the first positive test since school began in person on Aug. 31.

The school notified families of students that could have been in class with the student on Tuesday. The letter was sent only to those families, about 130 and less than 10 staff members.

"My staff I believe has been right on top of it," Superintendent Brent O'Daniell said. "I feel like we've moved as quickly as we possibly could. As you could imagine trying to be as transparent as possible while honoring confidentiality as much as possible is a challenge."

If the letter was sent to a GK family, the district notified them their student could have come into close contact with the positive case. Close contact is defined as a total of 15 minutes within 6 feet over a 24-hour period.

The district also notified the DeKalb County Health Department of individuals that could have been within close contact, to aid in contact tracing as needed.

The health department will contact individuals they deem to have been in close contact and instruct them to self-quarantine, and as such are restricted from all district activities for a period of 14 days from the time of initial contact with the student.

If a parent doesn't hear from the health department, there is nothing they have to do. Any student self-quarantining is expected to participate in remote learning as long as their health allows.

Before the school year started, there was a case of the virus among a member of the cross country team.

O'Daniell said as of early Wednesday morning, he hadn't heard much from parents.

"The letter went out after school yesterday so there's a possibility we could have received some contact this morning at the high school." O'Daniell said. "But as I sit here right now we haven't heard a lot from phone calls or contacts."

The impacted classrooms which may have encountered the positive case have already been deep-cleaned and are back in use as of Wednesday morning.

"I'm proud of our team and the work they've done," O'Daniell said.