Numerous school districts in central Lake County recently reported new positive cases of the coronavirus among their respective staffs.
Officials at Libertyville High School District 128 and Hawthorn School District 73 announced over the past weekend two total confirmed cases of COVID-19.
The new case at District 128 is in addition to the confirmed case reported at the school district on March 17, which marked the first known case of the disease at a K-12 school in Lake County at the time.
Libertyville Elementary School District 70 officials also announced Sunday a staff member at Highland Middle School has a “presumed positive” case of the virus. The staff member reported feeling onset symptoms March 17 but was not tested because of a lack of testing kits, District 70 officials stated.
A staff member at Elementary North in District 73, meanwhile, tested positive for the disease on Saturday, according to a district statement.
District 128 officials posted on their website that the second confirmed case there involves a staff member at Libertyville High School who tested positive Friday.
Symptoms of COVID-19 can include fever, cough and breathing trouble. Most people with the virus develop only mild symptoms but some, usually those with other medical complications, develop more severe symptoms, including pneumonia, which can be fatal.
As of Sunday afternoon, the Lake County Health Department reported 15 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the county to 80 since the first Lake County case was identified March 11.
No fatalities related to the coronavirus have been reported in the county.
Officials at District 70, District 73 and District 128 all stated they will not be releasing additional information on their respective cases. All three districts said they are working with the Lake County Health Department on what next steps need to be taken.
“At this juncture, we should not be surprised when presumed positive or positive tests results are identified within our community,” District 128 officials stated. “We assume this will continue to happen, and this is a major reason why schools in Illinois are currently closed.”
As the number of local cases balloon, the county health department also has stated they will no longer release any demographic information about patients, such as age or gender, as the coronavirus outbreak moves into “a new phase.”
County public health officials also have stated they will not be updating the treatment status of confirmed cases since the number of cases is expected to keep increasing. They also stated they cannot provide information about how many patients have recovered from the virus.
jnorman@chicagotribune.com
