Chelsea Self/Glenwood Springs Post Independent
Garfield County Public Health and Roaring Fork Schools are cooperating with Colorado public health officials to investigate possible exposure at a Glenwood Springs school to coronavirus disease variant.
Local officials were made aware by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment that a Sopris Elementary student “and/or” staff member may have been exposed to one of the different COVID variants earlier this month.
“The health department is working with a dedicated team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to determine potential exposure and contain any further spread,” Garfield Public Health said in a Saturday morning press release.
Post Independent staff report
Garfield County Public Health and Roaring Fork Schools are cooperating with Colorado public health officials to investigate possible exposure at a Glenwood Springs school to a coronavirus disease variant.
Local officials were made aware by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment that a Sopris Elementary student “and/or” staff member may have been exposed to one of the different COVID variants earlier in January.
“The health department is working with a dedicated team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to determine potential exposure and contain any further spread,” Garfield Public Health advised in a Saturday press release.
About 55 Riverside Middle School students and eight educators were asked to make the transition to online learning and quarantine for 10 days, the Garfield County School District Re-2 announced Tuesday.
“Today, out of an abundance of caution, Garfield Re-2 School District has transitioned some students and staff to online instruction based upon individual(s) who has been confirmed to have COVID-19, or who has/have COVID-19 like symptoms or illness,” the district stated in a news release.
Garfield Re-2 was made aware of the individual(s) that led to the quarantines on Tuesday, the release states. Garfield Re-2 and all building administrators are working closely with Garfield County Public Health.
A curative mobile van that provides weekly COVID-19 tests to towns across western Garfield County is changing the way it collects samples after state officials raised concerns over the accuracy of results, according to a public health news release.
Last week, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment announced that they will no longer be using oral swab testing for residential facilities due to the results yielding “false negatives.”
State officials say the oral swab test type isn’t sensitive enough to detect COVID-19 in asymptomatic people.
Garfield County Public Health responded to concerns by replacing the mobile van’s curative testing method with “nasal swab” tests, the release states. Nasal swabs are said to be more accurate and will be administered to patients at the mobile test sites.