PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT NEWS
The Public Education Department on Oct. 5 announced 17 new positive cases of COVID-19 in the last 72 hours. Rapid response has been initiated, and all pertinent information has been verified with the schools and school districts. The following new cases have been reported:
§ Three cases in Bernalillo County. The infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Sept. 15, Sept. 28 and Oct. 2. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive cases.
§ Four cases in Chaves County. Two of the infected individuals are students who were last on school property Sept. 18 and Sept. 28. The other two infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property on Sept. 29 and Oct. 2. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive cases.
§ One case in Colfax County. The infected individual is a staff member who was last on school property Sept. 29. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive case.
§ Two cases in Curry County. One infected individual is a staff member who was last on school property Sept. 25. The other infected individual is a student who was last on school property Sept. 28. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive cases.
§ Three cases in Doña Ana County. The infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Sept. 25 (two) and Sept. 28. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive cases.
§ Two cases in Eddy County. The infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Sept. 17 and Oct. 2. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive cases.
§ One case in Lea County. The infected individual is a staff member who was last on school property Sept. 25. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive case.
§ One case in Quay County. The infected individual is a staff member who was last on school property Sept. 30. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive case.
All “close contacts” will be informed of the positive case(s) and instructed to quarantine for 14 days. Affected classrooms and facilities will be cleaned and disinfected. Staff must be tested if symptomatic or a “close contact;” however, staff members will not be required to present a negative test result in order to return to work. Symptomatic staff may return to work after 10 days plus 24 hours after the fever is gone and COVID-19 symptoms have improved. Asymptomatic staff who have been “close contacts” may return to work after a 14-day quarantine.
The PED has collected this data since Aug. 17; since then, 227 total cases have been reported in 120 schools. Of those, 162 have been staff members and 65 have been students.
For additional information about COVID-19 safety in schools, please visit: https://bit.ly/SafeSchoolsNM.