Eight more students at Charles City High School test positive for COVID-19, bringing district total to 16

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City Community School District received notification Monday from Floyd County Public Health that eight additional students, all at the Charles City High School — and all associated with the high school football team — have tested positive for COVID-19.

The eight students consist of four in 11th grade, one in 10th grade and three in ninth grade. The district said that there is no evidence the individuals contracted COVID while at school.

District-wide, 16 positive cases have been reported in the school district as of Monday evening, with 130 students placed in quarantine.

The district temporarily closed off all areas of the building the individuals used, and are cleaning and disinfecting the spaces. The district has been cooperating with the Floyd County Department of Health “and will take the steps necessary to protect the health of our school family.”

The individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 will be allowed to return to school once they are 24 hours with no fever and symptoms are improving, and 10 days since symptoms started.

If there are no symptoms, the students can return 10 days from the day of test. The campus attendance office will monitor the return date.

The school district reported six positive tests at the high school last week, with the eight more reported Monday this week for a total of 14 at the high school.

More than 100 high school students have been quarantined as of Monday.

The other two who have tested positive were one each at the middle school and Carrie Lane High School.

Most of the positive cases last week could be traced back to the football team, and as a result, the team put practices and games on hold for two weeks.

The students reporting with positive COVID-19 test results were:

• One at the middle school on Aug. 27 (this student tested positive before ever attending school this year).

• One at Carrie Lane High School and one at the high school on Sept. 2.

• Three at the high school on Sept. 3.

• Two at the high school on Sept. 4.

• Eight at the high school on Sept. 7.

The district stated that if a student has been within 6 feet of someone who has COVID-19 for a total of 15 minutes or more, the district’s customer service team will call the student’s family with more details. The family should also expect a phone call from Floyd County Public Health.

The district has launched a COVID-19 dashboard with current information available to students, teachers and families. The dashboard contains information on the number of individuals who are requested by Floyd County Public Health to quarantine and who have officially tested positive for COVID-19.

The dashboard is part of a broader COVID area on the website, detailing information for the school family to research. The dashboard is updated regularly with data from Floyd County Public Health and the Iowa Coronavirus website.

The dashboard is located at www.charlescityschools.org/covid-dashboard/.