November 6th, 2020 by WCBC Radio
With 16 new COVID-19 cases reported in the public school system this week, the Allegany County Board of Education is advising parents and the community to be prepared for the possibility that schools could close in the near future. At a special afternoon meeting of the board on Friday, a vote was taken to give interim Superintendent Jeff Blank the authority to take the necessary steps to close and possibly return to all distant learning as an alternative. The primary concern centers on maintaining adequate staffing levels, given that quarantines have led to a significant reduction. Blank said that while currently the system is getting by, if the virus spikes continue, that could change.
Allegany County on Friday once again topped Maryland’s seven-day moving average case rate per 100,000 at 46.66, which tripled the statewide rate of 15.54. According to the most recent numbers Allegany County has the second highest positivity rate in the state.
For the week of November 2-6, 2020, ACPS reports 16 individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 who were within an Allegany County Public School. These individuals will complete the required isolation period before returning to their school buildings. Contact tracing in six (6) of these cases indicated no close contacts and no need to quarantine staff or students. In the remaining ten (10) cases, close contacts were identified, and those individuals will complete a 14-day quarantine period. Parents were notified through the ACPS Blackboard notification system if there was a positive case in their child’s school building. Although there is no evidence of in-school transmission of the virus at this time
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