North Allegheny’s Marshall Middle School switching to remote learning because of covid cases
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Students who attend North Allegheny’s Marshall Middle School will temporarily switch to remote instruction after three additional positive covid cases were reported, district officials announced.
The three new cases brings the total number of active cases at the school to seven during a 12-day period.
As a result, students will not be allowed in the building today until Feb. 2.
“During the last 12 days, we have had constant communication with the Allegheny County Health Department,” district officials said in a letter to parents. “After reviewing the recent cases…the district must close Marshall Middle School for in-person instruction, athletics and activities.”
Of the seven positive cases reported at the middle school in the past 12 days, four of the infected people were in the building, school officials said.
However, the county did not recommend that the school be closed for 14-days because three of the four people who tested positive did not have close interactions with any students or staff, the letter said.
“There is evidence of overlap between the cases; meaning, the virus could be spreading within a cluster of individuals that came in close contact with each other,” school officials said.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, close contact means spending 15 minutes or more within 6 feet of someone who has tested positive for the virus.
The middle school students are scheduled to resume in-person instruction on Feb. 2. Athletics and activities at Marshall Middle School can resume on Saturday, officials said.
There have been 27 positive covid cases at Marshall Middle School since the start of the school year — the most among the district’s three middle schools. Carson Middle School has had 14 positive cases and there have been six at Ingomar Middle School.
As of Jan. 24, a total of 216 positive covid-19 cases were reported in the North Allegheny School District affecting 143 students and 73 members of the staff according to a tracker set up by the district. Ten of the cases are active.
The district also has 301 people in quarantine because of possible exposure to the coronavirus. Of that number, 224 are students and 27 are staff members.