Dear Parents,
Staff of Antonian College Preparatory High School learned today, March 30, 2021, a student and an employee tested and received positive results.
- Student "A" (11th grade) tested and received positive results on Thursday, March 25, 2021, and was last on campus Wednesday, March 17, 2021.
- An Antonian employee tested and received positive results on Monday, March 29, 2021, and was last on campus, Wednesday, March 17, 2021.
As a reminder, the symptoms of COVID-19 can be one, some, or all of these: fever, chills, shortness of breath, cough, fatigue, sore throat, the new loss of taste or smell, and/or nausea/diarrhea. If your child develops any symptoms of any illness, please keep your child at home and contact the child's physician for further instructions.
PLEASE MAKE SPECIAL NOTE OF THIS: At this time, many of those who are reporting positive results initially believed that their symptoms were related to seasonal allergies due to pollens in the air. It is true that this is the typical time of spring allergy issues. However, for the health and safety of our community, please err on the side of caution and keep your child at home even if he or she is only suffering the very simplest of symptoms.
Please know that as soon as we receive a report, we begin our contact tracing efforts and work to communicate with those who were believed to have "close contact" (as defined by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention) with the person who tested positive, advising them to quarantine and to watch for any signs of symptoms of COVID- 19. As always, privacy reasons prevent us from sharing the name(s) of the affected individual(s).
ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE: Although contact tracing is on-going, thus far, it does not appear that the recent round of cases among students has occurred as a result of in-person instruction. Instead, many of the cases that have been reported can be traced back to activities that occurred during spring break, during which it can be seen on social media that many of our students traveled and/or gathered together, very often without masks. For this reason, we must continue to advise families that it is far more what students do outside the academic day than what occurs in the classrooms that affects our ability to fully return to normal operations. We understand that students have grown weary -- we experience this when we have to remind them to socially distance in school and keep their masks on. Nonetheless, students should continue to wear masks, practice good health hygiene, and socially distance themselves as much as possible. This is so vital, especially as the 4 1/2 day Easter break is around the corner. We ask for the cooperation of all families so that we do not see a spike when we return to school on Tuesday, April 6th.
Please pray for the speedy and complete recovery of the students affected by COVID-19, and all who are impacted by the disease.
