VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Virginia Beach City Public Schools released information about positive COVID-19 cases that have surfaced within school buildings in the last few weeks.
Responding to an inquiry on Thursday, VBCPS Spokesperson Sondra Woodward said the school system could not identify if the individuals who tested positive were staff members or students.
"We do not identify individuals," Woodward wrote.
For the school division in general, there were 11 cases reported since September. Here's the breakdown for public school buildings:
- Week of Sept 7: four cases
- Week of Sept 14: five cases
- Week of Sept 28: two cases
Among those cases, Woodward said there has been at least one case reported at Trantwood Elementary School and one at Arrowhead Elementary School.
She did not say when these cases were reported, or if they were students, but did say the case at Arrowhead had passed the period of possible exposure.
The school division released this message to Trantwood's families about the case
Dear Trantwood Elementary School families-
The health and safety of our entire community is of utmost importance for everyone at Trantwood. With that in mind, we want to make you aware that the school division was informed today of an individual who was in your child’s school building on Oct. 6 and has since tested positive for COVID-19. This person will not return to the building until released by their healthcare provider and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance has been met.
We continue to work closely with the Virginia Beach Department of Public Health and have identified individuals who had close contact with the person to determine if they might have been exposed to the virus that causes COVID-19. Based on VDH recommendations, there are other individuals who will be quarantining.
However, because those who were potentially exposed is limited to a small group, Trantwood Elementary School will remain open during this time. VBCPS is following Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations on Reopening Guidance for Cleaning and Disinfecting Public Spaces to reduce viral transmission and keep our children and school personnel healthy and safe. The classroom where potential exposure took place will be cleaned per these protocols.
For additional information about COVID-19, please go to the VDH website or the CDC website. You may also call the Eastern Region COVID-19 Hotline with general questions at 757-683-2745.
We encourage you to use the following guidelines as a part of our efforts to #VBSAFETogether.
Someone at Cooke Elementary School also tested positive for COVID-19 over the summer.
Eric Sinclair said he’s got a daughter in the school division. “If she was in school, she would not be on a school bus right now,” said Sinclair.
He said his daughter isn’t going back to in-person learning this semester.
“Of course, I chose virtual learning because the safety of my daughter is the utmost priority in my life,” said Sinclair.
Virginia Beach Education Association's President, Kelly Walker, told us they want the division to publish a COVID dashboard that identifies COVID-19 cases and where they are.
“I think we got a long way to provide a sense of security to not just the employees but our community,” said Walker. She said. “We are just very concerned again about the transparency and making sure that the community knows when and where these cases turn up.”
Woodward said a dashboard for coronavirus cases in the school division was coming and should be operational "sometime next week."