COVID-19 Case Closes Brookings-Harbor Elementary School

On Sunday afternoon, September 20th, the Brookings-Harbor School District was notified by Curry County Public Health that there had been a confirmed exposure of COVID-19 to Kalmiopsis Elementary School, and in order to protect the privacy of the individuals, this will be the only information released by the district about these individuals.

In the Sunday afternoon press release from Curry County Public Health Administrator Sherrié Ward, “notification came through Del Norte County Public Health and the official medical record system provided by the Oregon Health Authority. Both cases have been verified and confirmed by the Health Officer through lab results.”

The release went on to say “Public Health has reached out to the individuals whom are from the same household, one adult and one child, who are Curry County residents are home self-isolating, monitoring symptoms. Curry County Public Health is conducting case investigating and contact tracing of both cases and will reach out to anyone suspected of exposure to COVID-19.”

The Brookings-Harbor School District stated in that are working closely with Curry County Public Health to take additional steps to protect the health of the community.

After working in collaboration with Curry County Public Health, in-person instruction for grades Kindergarten through Third Grade have been canceled starting Monday, Sept. 21st.

Students who were receiving face-to-face instruction in kindergarten through third-grade, teachers will be in contact Monday, Sept. 21st, and distance learning will begin no later than Tuesday, Sept. 22nd. Students who were already receiving online-only instruction are not impacted.

Individuals who are determined to be in close contact with the exposed individuals will be contacted by the Curry County Health Department or the Brookings-Harbor School District and will need to quarantine for two weeks.

Working in collaboration with Curry County Public Health, the Brookings-Harbor School District stated that it’s goal to conduct a deep cleaning of impacted areas, to identify classes or grades that were not in close contact with impacted individuals and resume in-person instruction with those classes prior to the end of the week.