Saucon Valley High School (FILE PHOTO)
Just a few days after three cases of COVID-19 were reported at Saucon Valley Elementary School, another case has been identified at Saucon Valley High School, school district superintendent Dr. Craig Butler announced in an email Monday.
The email didn’t specify whether the case involves a student or staff member, but Butler said in the email that the individual had “no close contacts” at the school.
All Saucon Valley students are learning remotely this week, as a preventive measure against the disease’s spread following the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, when many families traveled or gathered with individuals from outside their immediate households.
Butler said that all Saucon Valley students who attend in-person classes will return to their classrooms on Monday, Dec. 7, as planned.
He said the district had notified the Pennsylvania Department of Health about the latest case, which is the ninth to be confirmed at the high school so far this year. With the addition of the three cases confirmed at the elementary school, that brings the total number of cases in the Saucon Valley School District so far this year to twelve.
“I strongly encourage families and students to exercise all safety precautions including masking and distancing outside of school hours,” Butler reiterated in his email. “The health and safety of our students and staff is of the utmost importance. Our actions are based on that premise.”
The Pennsylvania Department of Health Monday announced that nearly 10,000 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed statewide on Saturday and Sunday.
In the department’s daily news release, officials said there were 75 additional deaths from the disesase confirmed Saturday and 32 additional deaths confirmed Sunday.
Statewide percent positivity for the week of Nov. 20-26 stood at 11.7 percent, and the news release noted that “the trend in the 14-day moving average of number of hospitalized patients per day has increased by nearly 3,000 since the end of September.”
Between Nov. 28 and Nov. 30, the number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 in Pennsylvania increased from 4,114 to 4,405 while the number of people hospitalized in intensive care due to the illness increased from 864 to 918, according to the Department of Health.
Health officials in Pennsylvania and around the country remain concerned that in early December there will be an additional surge in the number of new cases as well as death rates from COVID-19, due to spread that likely occurred during the Thanksgiving holiday and because of Black Friday shopping.
