A student in the Brandon-Evansville School District has contracted the coronavirus.
Superintendent Don Peschel and High School Principal Brian Novak posted on the school’s Facebook page that they were notified by the Minnesota Department of Health of a lab confirmed case of COVID-19 in a member of the student body with an exposure date of Friday, Sept. 18. The exposure was at the high school.
“We have worked with local health officials to identify those who had close contact with the person, and have communicated with them individually,” the administrators said in the post. “The risk of exposure for other individuals present in the building on that date is no greater than the risk of contracting the virus in the general community.”
School has not been canceled and will still be operating as usual.
The district has taken action to clean and sanitize the facility and are working closing with MDH to monitor the situation.
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Those who were not in close contact with the student and were not notified of the case are asked to monitor themselves for symptoms of illness, but do not need to stay home unless symptoms develop, the administrators said.
“This is a challenging time and I know many of you may be feeling stress or anxiety. We will get through this together as a community, and will be stronger when we emerge,” Peschel said.
The district is asking all members of the community to help minimize the spread of COVID-19 by taking the following actions:
Protect yourself and others by wearing a face covering when it is hard to stay 6-feet away from people.
Wash your hands often with soap and water.
Cover your cough and sneeze and avoid touching your face with unwashed hands.
If you are sick, stay home from child care and other activities.
Be prepared in case you get sick and need to stay home. Keep enough food, regular prescription drugs and other necessities on hand in case you need to stay home and are not able to go out easily.
Frequently clean all commonly touched surfaces (e.g., telephones, doorknobs, countertops, etc.).
If symptoms develop, the district is asking that you stay home and consult with a healthcare provider. And if you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, the MDH recommends the following:
Stay at home for at least 10 days, and for 24 hours with no fever and improvement of other symptoms (your fever should be gone for 24 hours without using fever-reducing medicine).
If your household contacts were exposed to you while you had symptoms, they should try to stay home as much as possible for 14 days.
