Coronavirus is closing this KY school district. Students will learn from home.

The first school district to close in Kentucky because of coronavirus will allow students to learn from home next week, district officials said Saturday.

From at least March 9 to March 13, Harrison County Schools will implement the current system it uses for students to work from home during bad weather or other situations, Superintendent Harry Burchett said.

Harrison is already among the 83 out of 172 Kentucky districts that use a state program called non-traditional instruction for up to 10 days each school year, said state department of education spokeswoman Toni Konz Tatman. Fayette County Schools does not use the alternative program.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear at a news conference Saturday said Burchett would close the Central Kentucky district for up to a week because a county resident has the state’s first reported coronavirus case.

“We would recommend at this point that he do so,” Beshear said. In a later news release, Beshear’s office said school districts can make their own decisions about closing.

Residents in Harrison County, north of Lexington, should avoid contact with groups of people as health officials brace for more cases of novel coronavirus, Beshear said at the news conference.

Kentucky’s first COVID-19 patient, diagnosed Friday afternoon, is in serious but improving condition at UK Chandler Hospital in Lexington.

“As a school district, we are prepared to provide continuity of services for both learning and nutrition,” Burchett said in a statement. ”Teachers will be providing instructional services using Nontraditional Instruction , while other staff members will be assisting in the cleaning and disinfecting of buses, classrooms and other public spaces.”

Harrison County Schools has canceled sports and all extracurricular events until further notice, he said.

Tatman said school districts currently have to request permission to use the non-traditional instruction program 120 days before the school calendar begins.

Interim Education Commissioner Kevin Brown said Friday that his department was exploring avenues of non-traditional instruction in case school districts had to close.

Virtual classrooms could be important to Kentucky as the state fights the outbreak, Department for Public Health Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack said.

Fayette County Public School officials in Lexington previously said they were prepared to keep students and staff safe with measures that could include closing schools.

This story was originally published March 7, 2020 at 5:09 PM.