PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT NEWS

The Public Education Department on Oct. 19 announced 48 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:

§  10 cases in Bernalillo County. Two of the infected individuals are students who were last on campus Oct. 1 and Oct. 7. The other eight infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 1, 7, 12, 13, 14 and Oct. 15. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive cases.

§  Five cases in Chaves County. One of the infected individuals is a student who was last on school property Oct. 6. The other four infected individuals are staff members who were on campus Oct. 2, 7, and 13. 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 Cibola County. Both infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 6 and Oct. 8. 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 Curry County. Both infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 6 and Oct. 8. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive cases.

§  11 cases in Doña Ana County. All of the infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 6, 9, 13 and Oct. 15. 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. Both of the infected individuals are students who were last on school property Oct. 6. 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 Lea County. Three of the infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 9, 12 and 15. The fourth infected individual is a student who was last on campus 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 Lincoln County. The infected individuals are all students who were last on school property Sept. 28, Oct. 6 and Oct. 9. 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 Otero County. The infected individual is a staff member who was last on school property Oct. 9. 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 Roosevelt County. The infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 8. 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 Sandoval County. The infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 13 and Oct. 16. 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 Santa Fe County. The infected individual is a student who was last on campus Oct. 5. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive case.

§  Three cases in Valencia County.  All three infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 16. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive cases.

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, 366 total cases have been reported in 208 schools. Of those, 245 have been staff members and 121 have been students. 

Since schools began operating in the hybrid mode on Sept. 8, a total of 297 cases have been reported in 182 schools, including 190 staff members and 107 students.

For additional information about COVID-19 safety in schools, please visit: https://bit.ly/SafeSchoolsNM.