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NEISD shares game plan for handling positive cornavirus cases once the year begins

How one of San Antonio's biggest districts plans to combat the spread of COVID-19.

When schools reopen with new safety measures in place in the coming weeks, COVID-19 may still find its way into classrooms. 

With more than 64,000 students and 5,000 teachers, there's more than just a chance the coronavirus could eventually impact North East ISD. 

NEISD Executive Director of Communications Aubrey Chancellor said their game plan for tackling potential outbreaks will depend on the situation.

"Each instance is going to, of course, have unique circumstances," Chancellor said. "If there is a positive case, let's say in one particular classroom and then that begins to spread very quickly and we see number two, number three, number four, we may just go ahead and shut that classroom down and say, 'Everybody is going to go home,' and begin virtual learning at that point."

Chancellor said if they have one isolated case, they may not have to go that far. She said much depends on how quickly they're able to contain it.

The first step will be telling Metro Health and NEISD Health Services about the case. Then they will begin contact-tracing efforts. 

"They will trace their last couple of days," Chancellor said. "They'll find out where they've been, when they've last been on campus."

Chancellor said they will immediately disinfect any area where the student or teacher has been. With their new cleaning equipment, she said they can clean every inch of a classroom within five minutes. 

Parents will then be emailed about the situation. 

"And then anyone who has had that close contact, who needs that extra direction, perhaps for a quarantine, they will have a phone call from our health services department," Chancellor said.

She said they are taking all the necessary steps to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but they still need to be ready for anything.

"In this day and age, the new normal is abnormal," Chancellor said. "I think we should all plan for possible disruptions. That's just the way this situation, unfortunately, seems to be playing out."

Even if a child is not required to stay home from school, parents can still choose to keep them off-campus. Chancellor said if at any point a parent or child feels uncomfortable with coronavirus conditions, they can switch over to virtual learning.  

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