Seven staff members, three students tested positive
SANTA FE — The Public Education Department announced seven new positive cases of COVID-19 as of Oct. 1. Rapid response has been initiated, and all pertinent information has been verified with the schools and school districts. The following new cases were reported:
• Three cases in Bernalillo County. All three infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Sept. 3 and Sept. 23 (two individuals). All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive cases.
• One case in Chaves County. The infected individual is a staff member who was last on school property on Sept. 29. The school is in remote learning mode. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive case.
• One case in Curry County. The infected individual is a staff member who was last on school property Sept. 29. The school is in remote learning mode. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive case.
• One case in Doña Ana County. The infected individual is a staff member who was last on school property Sept. 10. The school is in remote learning mode. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive case.
• Two cases in Eddy County. The infected individuals are both students. One was last on school property for small-group learning on Sept. 24. The other was last on school property for small-group learning Sept. 25. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive cases.
• Two cases in Hidalgo County. The infected individuals are both staff members who were last on school property Sept. 23 and Sept. 24 respectively. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected schools have been notified of the positive cases.
Symptomatic staff may return to work after 10 days plus 24 hours after the fever is gone and COVID-19 symptoms have improved.
Asymptomatic staff who have been “close contacts” may return to work after a 14-day quarantine.
The PED has collected this data since Aug. 17; since then, 195 total cases have been reported in 99 schools. (That number has been adjusted from previous reports after removing a case that turned out to be in a private school.) Of those, 137 have been staff members and 58 have been students.
For additional information about COVID-19 safety in schools, please visit: https://bit.ly/SafeSchoolsNM.
