Three Fayette classes, other students and staff quarantined since in-person return Monday

At least three entire Fayette school classes, as well as other students and staff, have been quarantined since students in kindergarten through second grade returned Monday to in-person learning for the first time in months, district officials said Thursday.

Being quarantined means that students and staff stay home for ten days from the time they were exposed to those who tested positive for the coronavirus. Students affected will learn virtually.

There have been five positive cases at five different schools since Monday. At least four students and one staff member who have been on campus since Monday’s return to in-person learning have tested positive, said district spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall.

As a result, 55 students who returned to elementary campuses since Feb. 22 and 6 staff members are in quarantine. There could also be others quarantined.

In three cases in which students tested positive, their classes at Rosa Parks Elementary, Liberty Elementary and Glendover Elemetary were quarantined, she said.

One student in each of those rooms had tested positive.

The district is handling quarantines based on individual circumstances, working with the Lexington-Fayette Health Department on contact tracing to determine who was near the student or teacher and getting guidance. Fayette Health Commissioner Kraig Humbaugh had already said recently that widespread in-person learning would likely result in positive cases and entire classes being quarantined.

One student receiving services at a school this week tested positive and three staff were quarantined as a result, Deffendall said, but no other students were because there were no close contacts. One of the three staff was a transportation employee, she said.

In Spring 2020, after the coronavirus outbreak hit, 19 transportation employees tested positive, several were hospitalized and one died.

In another case this week, a staff member tested positive and that has resulted in one student only being quarantined.

Cardinal Valley Elementary and Brenda Cowan Elementary were affected in those two cases.

More than 7,000 students in K-2 returned to Fayette schools Monday for the first time since March 2020’s COVID-19 school shut down.

Health Department spokesman Kevin Hall said officials continue to advise that schools space children as far as they are able in the classroom. He cited state guidance:

“If the physical space in the school does not allow for spacing students’ desks 6 feet apart, space desks as far away as possible. All desks should be arranged so students’ seats face the same directions. The use of cloth face masks is a safety expectation for all students and staff at all times, unless medically waivered.”

On Tuesday, Gov. Andy Beshear asked Kentucky schools to reduce student density as much as they could when students returned.

Fayette school officials have been saying for weeks that they could not assure students would be placed six feet apart in the classrooms if students returned.

That said, Deffendall said not all 40,000 plus students in Fayette schools are returning to classrooms as the graduated return of students for in-person learning continues from March 3 through March 15. Some students have decided to continue remote learning.

She said the district is having students who do return social distance as much as possible, with staggered arrival and dismissal times, changed bell schedules and multiple other new procedures to stop the spread of coronavirus.

This story was originally published February 25, 2021 at 4:33 PM.