Five more Boise schools have COVID-19 cases — even though all classes are online
Positive COVID-19 cases have popped up in five more Boise public schools since Thursday, the Idaho Statesman learned through a public records request.
Boise School District memos to staff and parents show confirmed positive cases at Borah High School, West Junior High and Adams, Roosevelt and Hillcrest elementary schools.
They join South Junior High, which was the first Boise school to report a case in the current academic year Aug. 11.
“I think the one thing we’ve learned about COVID is when you bring people together, you get spread,” Boise Superintendent Coby Dennis said during Tuesday’s school board meeting.
The memos did not reveal how many tested positive in each school. They also did not specify who tested positive, nor if they were school employees or students.
Boise’s own tracking shows 28 employees have tested positive for COVID-19, and the district also has two probable cases as of Tuesday. That includes positive cases from summer.
The school district couldn’t say how many employees were in a quarantine because it doesn’t track that information.
All Boise students started the year online Aug. 17, following guidance from Central District Health. But employees returned to school buildings Aug. 10, and teachers are hosting their lessons virtually from classrooms.
“We don’t even have kids in there yet,” Boise School Board member Troy Rohn said Tuesday. “This just brings home the point how serious this is and how good of a plan we need to have once we do get kids back.
“Like we’ve been told, it’s inevitable. … It was kind of eye-opening to see that in the last couple weeks.”
Boise will not start in-person classes until two weeks after it falls out of Central District Health’s highest category of community spread (red). The local health district placed Boise Schools in the red again Monday.
The earliest in-person classes could start is Sept. 14. And that’s only if Boise drops to the yellow category of community spread Monday.
The memos informed employees and parents Central District Health contacted all individuals exposed to positive cases. Those not contacted are not believed to have received significant exposure.
The positive cases add to Idaho’s rocky start to the new school year. Payette High School’s entire football team is in quarantine after an exposure to the coronavirus. Vallivue Middle School quarantined 12 staff members after a possible exposure. And in the Mackay School District, one employee was hospitalized and 70 students are in quarantine a week after students returned to in-person classes.
This story was originally published August 25, 2020 at 5:20 PM.
