Mesa Elementary School in Cortez reported a coronavirus outbreak last month, causing the school to shut down for 10 days.
According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, there were six confirmed cases at the school. No deaths were reported.
Officials were unable to tell The Journal whether those cases included staff, students or both. It also remains unclear how the outbreak began.
The outbreak is still considered an active investigation.
“Thank God that nobody died,” Montezuma-Cortez School District RE-1 Health Services Director Susan Ciccia said.
The school shut down from Jan. 8 to Jan. 18. The district followed CDPHE guidelines in making the decision to temporarily close.
Several changes were made to school operations throughout the district upon returning to in-person learning after winter break. These include requiring students from kindergarten to fourth grade to wear masks, keeping secondary school students in tight cohorts and testing teacher twice per week for the virus. The anticipatory measures were put in place because of potential transmissions after the holiday season, according to Superintendent Lori Haukeness.
As of Feb. 10, the county reported 1,663 confirmed positive cases of the virus and 13 coronavirus deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. Of the positive cases, 274 were considered active.
Seven people have died with the coronavirus, although the death was attributed to another cause. The county reported 1,369 recoveries from COVID-19 and 11,907 negative tests.
anicotera@the-journal.com
