St. Cloud's South Junior High has confirmed COVID-19 case

ST. CLOUD — The Minnesota Department of Health has confirmed a positive case of COVID-19 at South Junior High in St. Cloud. 

The district "has notified any children and staff who were in close contact (to) the case," Tami DeLand, district spokeswoman, told the Times Wednesday. "MDH requires them to stay home and quarantine for 14 days." 

St. Cloud school district is using a "school closure decision matrix" and working with a regional response team when there are confirmed COVID-19 cases.

"This is the first positive case that has had a direct impact on a school since students returned," DeLand said. 

MORE: What happens if there's a COVID-19 case at school? St. Cloud has a decision matrix for that.

The matrix compares the level of community spread based on 14-day county case rates with the size of the outbreak to determine whether the response is as simple as contact tracing and cleaning or if students need to move to distance learning. 

The 14-day case rate in Stearns County is 19.7, which is considered to be moderate spread. Under that scenario, the matrix shows a response of contact tracing, cleaning and notifying close contact exposures when a student or staff member has a confirmed case. 

DeLand said the district has had positive cases involving students, staff and parents since March. 

St. Cloud school district started in-person learning Sept. 14 under a hybrid model. 

Students in K-2 attend in person Mondays through Thursdays with full social distancing; students in grades 3-12 attend in person two days a week and learn from home two days week on a rotating schedule. All students learn from home on Fridays.

Already this year, the virus has forced three Sauk Rapids-Rice schools to change learning models. Pleasantview Elementary moved to distance learning and Sauk Rapids-Rice's high school and middle school moved to a hybrid learning model. 

Also this week, College of St. Benedict and St. John's University limited student movement on campuses after 19 students tested positive within four days last week.

Jenny Berg is the cities and schools reporter for the St. Cloud Times. Reach her at 320-259-3680 or jberg@stcloudtimes.com. Follow her on Twitter @bergjenny.

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