AUBURN, Neb. (KMTV) — Calvert Elementary, in the Auburn Public School District, has shut down due to an outbreak of COVID-19 cases. Confirmed positive cases span multiple grade levels and impact adults and children.
"On Monday we started to get a case, we had one or two, and then Tuesday we had more. On Wednesday, by the afternoon, I started getting pretty consistent reports of cases," Superintendent David Patton said. "By the afternoon the numbers were such that it was pretty apparent we just needed to implement the practices that school districts always have whether it was flu or anything else. We just had some pretty high transmission taking place. Let’s shut it down. Let’s do another deep cleaning and fog the whole building and everything else and bring everybody back on Monday."
Patton said they weren't anticipating an outbreak so soon after classes started. School began Wednesday, August 11.
"School had just started. We were still collecting forms for the one-to-one devices and things like that, so we weren’t ready for it to happen this quickly if it was going to happen. Most of the professionals we talked to said if we were to have a situation like this they would anticipate it to be more mid-to-late September," Patton said.
The district has called an emergency meeting for Monday so they can discuss the situation, protocols and be transparent with the community. Calvert Elementary will reopen Monday, August 23 and it will move forward with a mask mandate.
The executive director of the Southeast District Health Department says the school district took appropriate action. They added that the health department does not require testing or quarantine after exposure.
