{"id":51732,"date":"2020-09-07T03:54:22","date_gmt":"2020-09-07T09:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/florida-mesa-elementary-student-tests-positive-for-covid-19\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:57:11","slug":"florida-mesa-elementary-student-tests-positive-for-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/florida-mesa-elementary-student-tests-positive-for-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Mesa Elementary student tests positive for COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A student at Florida Mesa Elementary has tested positive for COVID-19 and has begun a 14-day self-quarantine.<\/span>Emily Hayes\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A student at Florida Mesa Elementary has tested positive for COVID-19, and the student and classmates have begun a 14-day self-quarantine.<\/p>\n

The student was placed in an isolation room Tuesday after a teacher noticed the student was exhibiting symptoms. The student\u2019s parents were asked to pick up their child, said district spokeswoman Julie Popp.<\/p>\n

The student saw a primary caregiver later Tuesday and was tested for COVID-19 by Cedar Diagnostics of Durango on Wednesday. The test was confirmed positive Friday. San Juan Basin Health Department was notified Saturday and began contact tracing Sunday.<\/p>\n

Brian Devine, interim environmental health director with San Juan Basin Public Health, said none of the student\u2019s primary contacts have shown symptoms of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

All primary contacts of the student will be tested Tuesday, seven days after potential exposure. If any contact shows symptoms before Tuesday, they will be tested immediately, Devine said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe measures 9-R took really paid off,\u201d Devine said. \u201cThe case was identified and contained to the student\u2019s classmates. The measures 9-R has taken, keeping students within their cohorts, have prevented us from having to quarantine a whole grade level or the whole school.\u201d<\/p>\n

To prepare for a COVID-19 outbreak, Durango School District 9-R had created isolations rooms at each school.<\/p>\n

As of Sunday, the student\u2019s primary contacts have been notified, and most were checked by evening, Devine said. No primary contact exhibited symptoms.<\/p>\n

Contact tracing would expand if a primary contact exhibited symptoms in the next 14 days.<\/p>\n

Primary contacts include the student\u2019s classmates, 9-R staff who had contact with the student and the student\u2019s immediate family, Devine said.<\/p>\n

Popp said quarantined students will continue remote, at-home and online learning during the isolation period.<\/p>\n

The quarantine will end Sept. 16.<\/p>\n

Popp said as of Sunday, 9-R has been told by San Juan Basin Public Health that no other cohorts at Florida Mesa or other 9-R schools needed to be quarantined, but that could change through Sept. 16 if the student\u2019s primary contacts exhibited symptoms.<\/p>\n

Popp was unsure whether the teacher isolated the student in the morning, upon arrival to school or later Tuesday. She also did not know what symptoms the student showed.<\/p>\n

Major symptoms of COVID-19 are coughing, sore throat, shortness of breath, fever and chills. Minor symptoms are include fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, a loss of taste or smell, congestion, runny nose, nausea and vomiting and diarrhea.<\/p>\n

Popp said Sunday all areas at Florida Mesa have been disinfected.<\/p>\n

To minimize the spread of COVID-19, 9-R is emphasizing \u201cthe 3 W\u2019s\u201d \u2013 wear a mask, wash your hands and watch your distance.<\/p>\n

Florida Mesa Elementary remains open for in-person and blended learning for unaffected cohorts, Popp said.<\/p>\n

Popp added it was critical for all families to monitor the health of household members and make sure anyone who feels ill stays home.<\/p>\n

9-R\u2019s procedures in dealing with COVID-19 positive students are detailed in its 9-R Process Map for Symptomatic Cases<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Popp reminded students and households to socially distance and abide by the state order to wear a face mask start as students and families contact one another.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole community must remain vigilant and highly disciplined so that we can keep our schools and our economy safe and open as COVID-19 continues to circulate in our community,\u201d Popp said.<\/p>\n

parmijo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

classmates will be quarantined through Sept. 16<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[685,4882,28,29,686],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-51732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-florida-mesa-elementary","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-san-juan-basin-health-department"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51732"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87994,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51732\/revisions\/87994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51732"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=51732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}