Late in the day on Thursday, October 8, the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District learned that a new positive COVID-19 case is connected to someone at one of their Seward area schools.
Without ample time to conduct contact tracing, positive cases trending upward, and out of an abundance of precaution, Moose Pass and Seward schools will shift to 100% Remote Learning beginning Friday, October 9, 2020. On Friday, no students will attend school onsite, in person. Today, KPBSD will work with public health to assess any interactions in the time period the person was connected with school, and everyone who is determined to be a close contact will be called personally.
According to this release, your school and KPBSD will share further information as it becomes known, and announce midweek next week if they will reopen to onsite at school learning on Monday, October 19, 2020, or need to extend the 100% Remote Learning. This decision will be determined by COVID-19 risk level and community spread in the Eastern Peninsula.
KPBSD honors HIPAA and FERPA privacy laws, so the identity of a student or employee will not be revealed by the school or KPBSD, unless permission is given to do so.
Each case of COVID-19 is interviewed by public health, and our team. As part of this public health investigation and contact tracing at school, and based on CDC guidance and Alaska DHSS protocols:
- Everyone diagnosed with COVID-19 is kept home from school until they are no longer infectious.
- The person’s activities when they could have spread COVID-19 were assessed.
- The people who were close contacts of the person with COVID-19 are instructed to stay home from school for 14 days after the exposure. This is called quarantine and there is no way to test out of a 14-day quarantine when someone is identified as a close contact.
- What to know during 100% Remote Learning in COVID-19 High Risk
- Free Get-It-And-Go meals are available for all students during 100% Remote Learning. Daily pickup is at your school between 12:00-12:30
- No students will attend school on Friday, October 9, 2020. Schools will contact Pre-K, Kindergarten, and Special Education Intensive Needs students directly about school starting Monday, October 12, 2020, based on the 2020 Smart Start plan
- Activities operate with ASAA High Risk Protocols in effect
- Schools will communicate an update status mid-week to aid parent planning for the following week specific to if school reopens to onsite at school learning on Monday, October 19, 2020
If you have questions, contact your school principal, or public health official at 907-335-3400.
You can find specific information for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District on our dedicated COVID-19 in KPBSD Hub webpage that includes communication updates, safety protocols, 2020 Smart Start Plan, sports and activities, risk levels on the Kenai Peninsula, and the COVID19 Confirmed Case in School Response Matrix.