Several new positive COVID-19 cases in the Montezuma-Cortez School District are prompting school officials to continue monitoring community spread of the virus, and call for a transition to online learning for all students.

“We’re very concerned,” Superintendent Lori Haukeness told The Journal on Friday morning.

An individual at Kemper Elementary School tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, causing the kindergarten class to quarantine for two weeks. Grades 1-5 at the school will continue attending class in person as of Friday afternoon.

“No buses were involved, and no other schools are impacted at this time,” a statement from the school district said.

The school district announced last week that it would transition in-person students to online learning between Nov. 30 and Jan. 11 based on recommendations from the Montezuma County Public Health Department and Southwest Memorial Hospital.

A statement released by the school district on Friday said “small group and family gatherings over Thanksgiving and Christmas are likely to increase the spread of the coronavirus.”

The district also stated that a Nov. 30 transition date to online learning would give teachers and parents time to prepare for the switch and make child care arrangements if needed.

“We will continue to follow the guidance and recommendations of our health department, and if there is a need to move to remote learning before Thanksgiving we will do so,” the superintendent said in the statement.

But officials from the hospital said Thursday in a public meeting via Facebook that when the district asked whether it should go entirely remote sooner than the Thanksgiving holiday, data available for COVID-19 cases in Cortez shows that it should.

“We are testing more people, but we are still getting high positivity rates,” compared with the number of people being tested, laboratory services director Alan Laird said.

The positivity rate at Southwest Memorial Hospital is now at 13%, up from 6% or 7% a couple of weeks ago, meaning it is spreading within the community, Laird said.

As of Saturday, there were 294 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Montezuma County, 114 of which are active.

According to the Montezuma County Public Health Department, the rise in cases is consistent across the county, including Cortez, Mancos and Dolores.

“The community spread is everywhere right now, and it is rising rapidly,” said Karen Dickson, public health emergency manager at the health department.

Southwest Memorial is set up to treat mild cases of COVID-19, but patients who need to be on oxygen for an extended period of time need to be transferred to another hospital, Marc Meyer, Southwest Health pharmacist and infection control manager, said. And 82% of hospitals statewide are at capacity for ICU hospital beds as of Saturday, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

“We did ask for it to be before Thanksgiving,” Meyer said. But the Montezuma-Cortez School District is “doing the best they can in a tough situation.”

Kerri White-Singleton, chief operating officer of the Southwest Medical Group, said the district “wants to avoid disrupting education even more.”

Day care centers will most likely not be able to stay open for much longer, White-Singleton said, leaving working parents with fewer options for child care help and support.

Some parents in the Cortez district have urged the administration to transition to online learning earlier than Nov. 30.

“Given the warning the hospital put out, waiting two or so weeks to close the schools again isn’t going to be a very healthy choice given the potential for kids to be exposed then bring it home to family members getting together for the holidays,” Kim Sanzone said. Her son attends at Southwest Open School.

Janet Mehesy’s oldest child chose to go online for the year, but her younger child attends the Kiva Montessori School.

“They should probably just close (the schools) now,” Mehesy said. “The sooner the better – a lot more people are testing positive.”

The Kiva Montessori School is using a hybrid model, which includes a combination of in-person outdoor and online learning.

But Mehesy said she wasn’t surprised about the climb in cases in the county or that some parents are against the move to remote learning for the district.

“The same people who complain are the same people who don’t do anything to slow the spread,” Mehesy said.

Parent Amber Cloud said her children would be attending Kemper Elementary, but she chose to do distance learning through Colorado Digital Learning Solutions because the school district planned to go entirely remote at some point during the school year.

“Not closing schools sooner could be to help transition the students to online and give parents time to find day care,” she said.

Cloud said parents should take accountability for the safety of their children in addition to the school district.

“If a parent doesn’t feel comfortable continuing to take their kid to school until fall break, that’s their freedom to choose not to,” Cloud said. “I don’t believe they need to lash out at the school and blame the schools for spreading the virus or putting the kids at risk.”

ehayes@the-journal.com