Officials: No student contact with coronavirus patient

A weekend jazz festival that ended up shuttering two Idaho school districts over fears of the coronavirus didn’t expose North Idaho students to the same risks, area officials said Monday.

“There’s no basis for closing schools for cleaning or quarantining students at this time,” Coeur d’Alene School District communications director Scott Maben said. “This was not something that impacted our students at all.”

The Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival that ran at the University of Idaho campus in Moscow last Friday and Saturday brought schools from around the Pacific Northwest. Students from several local schools — Sandpoint High School and Sandpoint Middle School — traveled to Moscow for the event.

Students from the neighboring Troy School District and the Genesee Joint School District were among the schools to attend, as were students from Jackson High School in Everett, Wash.

A student at Jackson High also happens to be the first — and, as of press time, only — student in the Pacific Northwest to test positive for the coronavirus, which has infected nearly 90,000 people worldwide, killing more than 3,000. Jackson High remained closed Monday as officials there ordered the Everett school scrubbed.

Maben said that while the Coeur d’Alene district’s concerns for the school remain paramount, Troy and Genesee districts’ decisions to close their schools Monday were based on different sets of circumstances. Students from Jackson High were staying at Genesee school facilities to help offset travel costs, while students from around the Northwest stayed in Troy facilities.

Maben said CDA School District released a Sunday email to parents with kids who attend area schools. The email explained the circumstances surrounding the children’s possible exposure, emphasizing that no students have so far exhibited any symptoms of the coronavirus. While the email urged calm, it also urged vigilance, such as washing hands often, covering coughs and avoiding sick people.

Maben added the point of the email was not only to inform but also to communicate calm during a worldwide event that can easily induce panic.

“It’s just out of an abundance of being cautious and transparent,” Maben said. “We wanted parents to have the same information that we have: There’s no evidence of an outbreak in our schools at this time.”

Maben added that school district officials will meet frequently for information updates and strategy sessions as district staff monitor the spread of the virus.

The infected Jackson High student did not attend the University of Idaho-sponsored festival. The student is under home quarantine and reportedly “doing well,” according to Dr. Chris Spitters of the Snohomish Health District. The student missed almost all of last week but was not diagnosed with the coronavirus until Friday, the day Jackson High’s music students arrived in Moscow.

While the Jackson High student is the only Pacific Northwest student to test positive, his school is by no means the only one to close out of concerns over the coronavirus. Jackson High was one of 11 western Washington schools to close Monday. The Colville School District closed Monday, as well, after an unknown individual with ties to its district was tested for the virus. District officials, who did not reply to requests for comment for this story, would not say if the patient was either a staff member or student. Test results are due back within the next three days. Colville schools will remain closed until further notice.

Troy and Genesee remain the only Idaho districts to close any schools over concerns of the outbreak. Forest Hills Elementary in Lake Oswego, Ore., is also closed through Thursday after one of its employees became the first Oregonian infected with the virus.