Midlands school districts report students, faculty test positive for coronavirus

Some students and staff at Midlands schools have tested positive for the coronavirus since the start of the academic year, the state health department reported on Friday.

Several schools in Richland 1 and Richland 2 reported small outbreaks of less than five cases each, in either faculty or students.

In Richland 1, A.C. Flora High School reported fewer than five students tested positive for coronavirus. Hand Middle School and Hopkins Elementary each had fewer than five faculty members test positive.

Richland 2’s Catawba Trail Elementary and Muller Road Middle School each reported fewer than five faculty members who had COVID-19. And fewer than five students at Richland Northeast High School tested positive for the coronavirus, the district reported.

Lexington 1 reported fewer than five infected faculty members at Lexington Elementary School. In Lexington 3, fewer than five students at Batesburg-Leesville Middle School tested positive, according to the health data.

Lexington 2, Lexington 4 and Lexington-Richland 5 school districts reported no cases in students and faculty.

One private school, Cardinal Newman in Columbia, reported fewer than five students tested positive for coronavirus.

The information was released as part of new efforts by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control to track outbreaks at K-12 schools statewide and report them twice per week. The new COVID-19 dashboard only includes cases in students, faculty and staff who are on a school campus “on a regular basis,” according to DHEC.

“Sports coaches, tutors, part-time employees, kitchen staff, custodial and maintenance workers and other school employees with a physical presence in schools will be included in these reports,” the agency said on its website. “Those students who participate in virtual instruction but are on campus regularly for extracurricular activities will also be included.”

In outbreaks of fewer than five people, DHEC did not specify how many cases there were.

Some early school reopenings have been marked by coronavirus scares. This week, Lexington-Richland 5’s Chapin Elementary School canceled early on-site instruction after a university intern on campus was diagnosed with COVID-19.

Richland 1 school district shut down Columbia’s Crayton Middle School last week after a staff member came in contact with someone who had tested positive for the virus.

DHEC reported 158 total positive cases connected to South Carolina schools, including 89 students and 69 employees. While the agency is using its dashboard only to report positive cases in students and staff who physically attend school, there is no indication of where each person contracted the coronavirus.

Bristow Marchant contributed to this report.

This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 4:14 PM.