Four schools in the Douglas County School District have shut down in-person learning after a string of COVID-19 outbreaks.
Mountain Vista High School in Highlands Ranch closed Wednesday, following more than five outbreaks, spokesperson Paula Hans said. Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment defines an outbreak as two or more cases within a two-week period that suggest the virus has spread within a single facility.
The other schools — Castle View High School in Castle Rock, Rocky Heights Middle School in Highlands Ranch and Sierra Middle School in Parker — closed Friday. Each had five outbreaks, Hans said.
The schools transitioned all students to remote learning for 14 days, after which they’re expected to return to full-time in-person learning.
Middle and high school students spent most of the year on a hybrid schedule, attending classes in-person about two days per week. On March 22, after the district’s spring break, Douglas County reopened secondary institutions at full capacity.
No one from the Tri-County Health Department was immediately available to comment on what’s driving COVID outbreaks, but epidemiologist Jennifer Chase told the Douglas County News-Press she believes transmission is happening between students in school.
The agency also believes it’s “highly likely” the U.K. variant, B.1.1.7, is contributing to spread at Mountain Vista High School, the publication reported.
Hans said any time a COVID-19 case is reported in a school, cleaning crews do a “deep disinfection of the building.”
“That takes place whether a school has had to transition to remote learning or if it’s a school currently still hosting in-person classes,” she said. “Our goal is to have students in school as much as possible and we’ll continue to work with Tri-County Health and CDPHE to monitor the situation.”
