COVID-19 cases continue to pop up in area schools, without major disruption

COVID-19 continues to crop up in area schools, but generally without major disruptions.

Wyoming Valley West closed the high school Friday due to the virus, but Superintendent Dave Tosh said the school will be back to normal hybrid instruction Monday.

Wilkes-Barre Area School District announced two new cases in a posting Friday afternoon, one at Coughlin High School (a staff member) and one at Flood Elementary, but neither person was found to be in direct contact with any students or staff members within their buildings, and all schools will continue with in-person classes Monday.

Wilkes-Barre Area Career and Technical Center extended a closing initially expected to end Monday another week after an additional staff member tested positive. Administrative Director Anthony Guariglia said via-email the person had “no interaction with faculty or students,” but that “we’re going to close the extra week as an abundance of caution.”

When Crestwood School Board debated Thursday on opening in hybrid mode Oct. 26 (the board voted 5-4 to do so), questions arose about district actions when a case was reported in a student at the high school. While Crestwood has been in full-remote mode since opening, it has brought some special educations students to the high school for the extra attention their Individual Education Plans require. People attending the meeting questioned the variety of responses to positive test results.

Superintendent Robert Mehalick offered this explanation of the state guidelines.

• If there is only one case reported, “you do not need to close your building. However, you do have to contact trace.” If you have a second case “you must close for three to five days.” If people in direct contact with a positive case show symptoms, “that’s called a presumptive positive, so you treat it as a positive.”

• If a person was in close contact with someone who tests positive — “within six feet, masked or unmasked” — that person must quarantine.

• If a building has “anything over four cases,” a building must be closed for 14 days.

“That’s the guidelines we’re going to follow when we come back,” Mehalick said.