CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — Chesapeake Public Schools have shifted three classrooms to online learning after several employees tested positive for coronavirus.
Over the weekend, school epi-links were discovered at Crestwood Intermediate and Truitt Intermediate.
Epi-links mean test results that were received are believed to be linked to previously reported
cases. Fortunately, the affected classrooms had already made the shift to online learning.
In each case, an employee tested positive for the virus in mid-November, and all students in the affected classrooms, as well as any employees determined to be close contacts, were sent home to quarantine.
Since that time, two additional employees, one in each location, who had been on active quarantine received positive test results as well, bringing the total number of cases in each location to two. As a result, the Chesapeake Health Department has determined the two cases in each location are linked; and, therefore, were labeled as an outbreak.
Officials say the district is closely monitoring the situations.
Chesapeake Public Schools began welcoming students back to on-campus learning in September and families were offered a choice between on-campus and at-home learning. Currently, students at the elementary level can attend school five days per week if their parents selected that option.
The district worked closely with the Chesapeake Health Department throughout their investigation. Since all individuals impacted by these situations were already quarantined, school officials say there was no need to change the operational status of the schools.
CPS has had its youngest learners on campus for two months without any known student-to-student, student-to-teacher, or teacher-to-student transmissions in schools, according to the school district.
A new CPS COVID-19 dashboard, launched in late November, provides a daily updated look at the number of positive test results, both self-reported and those reported by the Chesapeake Health Department.