A middle school in Fredericksburg will send its students home for virtual-only learning just two weeks after the start of the new school year.
The city schools system announced that students at Walker-Grant Middle School would return to virtual learning after seeing a growing number of new coronavirus cases.
After consulting with the Virginia Department of Health, Fredericksburg City Public Schools announced it, which had determined the situation as a high-level concern due to Walker-Grant's reporting of several new cases over the last two weeks, which has resulted in the quarantining of staff and students.
According to FCPS, there have been multiple presumptive and positive new coronavirus cases just in the last week. FCPS also disclosed that just in the last two days, those cases had been linked together, resulting in multiple outbreaks and other ongoing cases resulting in high levels of student absenteeism and school staff being at critical levels.
VDH considers a coronavirus outbreak to be at least two cases reported at the same address.
Updated stats on the FCPS school website reveals that between August 8 and August 23, a total of 95 students within the entire school division have been quarantined due to exposure to the virus. Out of that total, 25 students had been tested positive for the virus.
The total number of students in the FCPS is 3,551 for the 2020-21 school year.
The school division's coronavirus dashboard also records that five staff members have also tested positive and been quarantined for exposure. The dashboard doesn't record from what schools these cases are being reported from, so it's hard to say whether all or just most of the recorded cases come from Walker-Grant.
However, FCPS does state in their announcement that they didn't see any closely joined outbreaks, high absenteeism, or critical staff capacity issues with any other schools in the district.
As a result, FCPS and VDH have decided that Walker-Grant will revert to virtual learning immediately until Tuesday, Sept. 7. FCPS has also ordered the staff to report to work to provide virtual instruction.
Parents and caregivers have been instructed to contact Walker-Grant if the student doesn't have their computer or internet access.
Over the past seven days, there's been an average of 11 new coronavirus cases reported in Fredericksburg, with an average of zero hospitalizations and zero deaths. Further north, the state health department reported the first coronavirus-related death of a child in the region.
The child was between the ages of zero and nine years old, as the state does not reveal victims' information.
In neighboring Stafford County, Interim Superintendent Dr. Stanley B. Jones says the division is working on a pivot plan to revert to online learning in their schools. The decision to return to virtual learning would only be made after consulting with local health officials, said Jones.
