Students at Stikine Middle School and Wrangell High School will attend class remotely at least through Friday after a staff member at the secondary schools tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday.
Remote learning started the next day, as both schools closed. The shutdown has not affected classes at Evergreen Elementary School, the school district reported Monday.
"This individual ... is asymptomatic and is now in isolation," the city announced Monday afternoon. It was Wrangell's second reported COVID in the past week.
"All students who have been in close contact with the person who tested positive will be contacted directly by our school district staff," Schools Superintendent Debbe Lancaster said in a letter to the community on Monday. "Any student who is considered a close contact will need to remain at home for a 14-day quarantine period. We will be working with those students to implement/continue remote learning."
A public health official will call close contacts of the infected person as part of contact tracing. "Please answer that call and cooperate with public health officials to help protect others," the superintendent said.
"If contact tracing investigations determine that more students or staff may have been exposed, those contacts will be notified promptly. The school community will be contacted if any further action is needed," Lancaster said. "We continue to encourage all parents take their student's temperature and monitor students closely for any sign of potential illness."
Spring break for Wrangell schools is scheduled for Thursday and Friday, April 1-2.
Until classes resume in person, the district advised that middle and high school students "should log into their online classes at the scheduled times. If they have technical issues or difficulties, contact Katelyn Reeves at the middle school at 874-3393."
In February, all three Wrangell schools switched to remote learning for just over a week after someone associated with the middle and high schools tested positive.
Of the 36 COVID-19 cases Wrangell has seen since the start of the pandemic, 25 have been locals, eight non-locals, two residents who were not in town at the time - and one residency unknown.
The 25 cases among Wrangell residents represent about 1% of the community's population. Statewide, almost 59,000 resident cases have been reported since the pandemic started a year ago, according to the state website Monday, about 8% of Alaska's population.
The city continues to advise that people "keep close interactions to a very small group of people, ideally just within your household," and staying six-feet away "from others outside your household at all times."
In addition, the city reminds people to mask up in public places, stay home if feeling sick, get tested for COVID-19 even with only one symptom or mild symptoms, and call the SEARHC COVID-19 hotline at 907-966-8799 or other health care provider.
The school district statement added, "Students should remain at home if they have any symptoms of COVID-19 including fever (defined as temperature over 100.4 degrees), new or persistent cough, new trouble breathing or shortness of breath, chills, night sweats, sore throat, body aches, muscle aches, joint pain, headache, loss of taste or smell, fatigue, and/or stomach issues (diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain)."
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