A Montgomery County, Maryland, Catholic school has gone into quarantine after a teacher tested positive for the novel coronavirus last week, prompting a temporary pivot to an all-virtual learning model for its nearly 200 students.
The instructor at Bethesda’s Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School tested positive on Friday after waking up feeling unwell.
The Catholic Standard reports that, according to the Archdiocese of Washington, the school was originally only going to quarantine students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades, but, “out of an abundance of caution, school leadership decided to return to virtual learning for the entire school.”
“This decision was based on the many children in the school that are siblings of the middle school students required to quarantine.”
Quarantine and virtual learning are slated to last until Oct. 8. Archdiocese officials say no school students, or school families, have yet reported symptoms or positive test results.
Our Lady of Lourdes has 191 students from pre-K to eighth grade.
There have been two previous coronavirus cases at Archdiocese Catholic schools in Montgomery County. Both recovered and have returned to school.
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