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Woodstock School District 200 reports first outbreak of the school year

Outbreak occurred among two students on Greenwood bus

By Cassie Buchman
A Woodstock Community Unit School District 200 bus crosses the intersection of Lamb Road and the Metra railroad tracks northwest of Woodstock on Tuesday, June 22, 2021. The rail yard in Crystal Lake may be relocated to that site as part of a federal infrastructure spending program.

In this file photo, a Woodstock Community Unit School District 200 bus crosses the intersection of Lamb Road and the Metra railroad tracks northwest of Woodstock on Tuesday, June 22, 2021.

Woodstock School District 200 identified its first COVID-19 outbreak of the school year, according to a letter sent out by Superintendent Mike Moan on Friday.

The outbreak occurred among two students who rode a Greenwood Elementary School bus together, Moan said in the letter.

Outbreaks in a bus or classroom, as defined by both the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Illinois Department of Public Health, are two or more positive cases that are linked epidemiologically, among individuals who do not share the same household and are not listed as close contacts of each other outside of the outbreak setting.

“We encourage all families to continue to monitor their children for symptoms of COVID-19, which include but are not limited to: fever, cough, fatigue, sore throat, headache and diarrhea,” Moan said in the letter. “If at any time your child develops any signs or symptoms of COVID, he/she will need to stay home and parents/guardians should contact the school nurse.”

District 200 spokesman Kevin Lyons said a total of 11 students, including the two kids who tested positive, will need to quarantine because of the outbreak.

Students at District 200 have assigned seats on buses to help with contact tracing efforts.

“Busses are a bigger challenge for us. We just don’t have enough buses or drivers to be able to spread kids three feet apart,” Lyons said, adding that students are able to social distance in the classrooms, and sit six feet apart in the cafeteria. “We’re masked on buses, but it’s the spacing that’s the issue.”

As of the week of Aug. 30, which is the data currently available on the district’s website, there have been 87 COVID-19 cases, and 124 quarantining among students, with no new positive staff results and only four staff in quarantine, at District 200.

“Thank you for your cooperation and collaboration as we all work together to ensure the safety of all our students, staff and families,” Moan said. “We will continue to monitor cases in the school and across the district and will share any updates with our families. If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.”

Statewide, 128 schools have outbreaks, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health, which tracks this data on its website.

Of these, seven are in McHenry County. They are: Chauncey H Duker School in McHenry, Conley Elementary School in Algonquin, McHenry’s Edgebrook Elementary School, two at Hannah Beardsley Middle School in Crystal Lake, Spring Grove Elementary School and Martin Elementary School in Lake in the Hills.

District 200′s outbreak was not listed on the IDPH’s website yet.