Schools Report New COVID Cases

Five COVID Cases at Sidney High School are under quarantine.

In a report on the Sidney Public Schools website, the District reports five cases under quarantine at Sidney High School, one at Sidney Middle School, one at West Elementary School and one at South Elementary School.

The report also shows there are three defined as recovered cases at Sidney High School, and one at Central Elementary School. There is also one active case at SHS. Active is defined as staff or student “who have not yet been deemed as recovered.” A staff member or student is defined as recovered if at least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared and that person has had no fever for at least 24 hours without using fever reducers, and other symptoms have improved.

On Oct. 22, District Superintendent Jay Ehler issued a letter updating the district that if the Panhandle Public Health District's COVID Risk Dial increases to Red, the District will not automatically move to remote learning.

“We will instead use the number of confirmed cases within the school district as our primary metric,” Ehler said in the letter. “To date, SPS has had five positive cases and three recoveries. This number represents less than half a percent of our students, faculty and staff.”

Ehler said the District's plan has evolved since July. He said because one school has multiple cases should not mean the entire district moves to remote learning.

As of Sunday evening, the PPHD risk dial continues to edge forward. The PPHD reports 18,750 total tests since March, 1,957 tests returned positive for a 10.2 percent cumulative positivity rate with 1,236 recovered. There are 33 active hospitalizations as of Monday and 12 deaths attributed to COVID-19.