The unnamed student at Westmoore High School in Oklahoma City attended the first day of school on August 13 after testing positive for coronavirus. An anonymous tipster quickly told school administrators about the student’s status, Dawn Jones, director of communications and community relations for Moore Public Schools, told CNN.
Jones said school officials were later told that because the student was asymptomatic, the student assumed her quarantine would last only five days, although the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends asymptomatic patients be given a 10-day quarantine. . Jones did not say when the student tested positive.
The student’s parent told school officials they did not understand the information they received from doctors, Jones said.
The student has re-introduced quarantine and once confirmed they have no symptoms at the end of quarantine, they can return to school, she said.
No staff were exposed to the student with coronavirus, Jones said. And without the school’s social distance guidelines, many more of Westmoore High’s 2,500 students could have been exposed.
Moore Public Schools gave its 25,000 students the option to enroll in distance education for the semester, attend classes in person or attend classes both in person and online. Masks are required for high school students while at school and on buses, and classrooms and bathrooms are cleaned every day.
Schools across the country that have reopened have found themselves in similar situations with students with coronavirus-positive. A number of students were diagnosed with coronavirus after the first day of school in several states, including Mississippi and Georgia. A child in Indiana was sent to school before returning her result from the coronavirus test.
