Mt. Pleasant sees first teacher with positive virus test

MT. PLEASANT - The Mt. Pleasant Community School District is dealing with its first positive coronavirus case.

Superintendent John Henriksen confirmed a Mt. Pleasant Community High School teacher has tested positive. The district was informed of the case Thursday morning. The teacher is the first faculty member that has tested positive and is currently self-isolating.

In working with the county's public health department on contact tracing, Henriksen said no students were affected or were in close contact with the teacher. Close contact is defined by the CDC as 'any individual who was within 6 feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes starting from two days before illness onset.”

According to the district's return-to-learn plan, following a positive test, students and faculty are notified if close contact has been established. The plan notes the district will 'quarantine exposed students and staff,” and 'notify appropriate school administration, families and staff” without identifying the individual with COVID-19.

The district works with local public health to determine which staff and students should be quarantined.

Henriksen said the district continues to be in regular communication with public health.

'Anything we do, we're running past them,” Henriksen said.

The superintendent said going into the school year, he anticipated the district would have to deal with cases of the virus.

'It's in our community, and it has affected other employers in the community. [The district] would be no different than any other large employer,” he said.

Henriksen added that with schools, it can be 'hard … to physically distance.”

'We're doing what we can. Fortunately, this teacher was keeping good distance, so it didn't affect any kids. But it's in our community, and whether its faculty or students, we'll have to deal with cases,” he said.