Medomak Valley High School and Union Elementary School have each identified one positive case of COVID-19 and, as a result, have switched from a hybrid model to full-time distance learning until further notice.
RSU 40 Superintendent Steve Nolan said by email Monday, Oct. 26 that the two cases are connected, but he could not share any further details.
He said the district is working with an investigator from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention to determine close contacts of the people who tested positive.
The district is “closely following” the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s standard operating procedure, as well as guidance for cleaning and disinfecting from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Nolan said.
The Maine CDC defines close contacts on its website as “people who were within 6 feet of a COVID-19 case for 15 minutes or more. This includes the 48 hour period before the COVID-19 case became symptomatic.”
According to the agency’s standard operating procedure, close contacts will have to be tested and quarantine for 14 days, regardless of the test result.
MVHS Athletic Director Matt Lash said the MVHS soccer team could have had contact with an infected individual. Participants in a soccer game on Saturday, Oct. 24 against Morse High School had to be notified of the positive test, although the person with the positive test was not present.
Lash said all MVHS junior varsity games on Monday, Oct. 26 had been canceled.
The district will continue with hybrid schedules at three of its seven schools and in-person instruction at two schools, according to Nolan.
Since the start of the school year, the district has had five schools on a hybrid model: Waldoboro’s Miller School, Medomak Middle School, and Medomak Valley High School, as well as Union Elementary School and Warren Community School. Friendship Village School and Prescott Memorial School, of Washington, have had full-time in-person instruction since the beginning of the year and will continue in the same manner.
Warren Community School saw two positive COVID-19 tests earlier this month, but continued with a hybrid plan. The school informed parents about a first positive test Oct. 7 and a second Oct. 8.
