Schools report positive cases

SANTA FE — Ten positive COVID-19 cases in Roosevelt County schools were among 15 reported Thursday and Friday by the New Mexico Public Education Department.

The PED began providing daily updates of positive tests early last week.

According to the updates:

• The five infected Roosevelt County individuals reported Thursday were staff members, including two teachers. The individuals were last in the school building or a district office Sept. 9, Friday and Monday.

• The five infected Roosevelt County individuals reported Friday included two staff members and three students. The infected individuals were last in the school building March 6, April 6, Sept. 10 and Monday.

The PED does not identify which districts have positive cases.

Portales Superintendent Johnnie Cain said since Sept. 11, nine positive cases have been confirmed in the district. He thinks one may be the result of spread within district buildings, and the rest are most likely the result of community spread.

“All of the contact tracing we do ... all of those have come up negative,” Cain said. “So that makes me think it’s from being around people outside of school.”

Cain is on quarantine himself until Sept. 25, but said he received a negative test result on Friday.

The other Thursday positive cases listed were a teacher in McKinley County and a student in Bernalillo County. The other Friday positive cases were a student in Torrance County and one staff member each in Chaves and Lea counties.

In all cases, the PED said, staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected buildings have been notified of the positive cases.

Affected classrooms and school facilities will be thoroughly disinfected, and any staff or students who came into close contact with a newly diagnosed individual will be quarantined for 14 days.

Close contact is defined as being within 6 feet for three minutes or more. Staff who were close contacts must get tested for COVID-19 and provide the school with test results prior to returning to in-person duties.

Since collecting data Aug. 17, the state has recorded 126 positive COVID-19 cases in school populations.

In other local COVID-19 developments, Curry County reported a sheriff’s office employee and a former detainee at the Curry County Adult Detention Center tested positive for COVID-19.

County Manager Lance Pyle told The News the cases are not related, as the former detainee was brought into the facility by the Clovis Police Department, and had no contact with the sheriff’s office employee.

The detainee was booked into the facility Sept. 8, and a test administered upon booking came back negative two days later. The detainee was tested Monday as part of random weekly testing, and a positive test was returned Wednesday. The detainee, who has bonded out, was notified of the result and sent home to quarantine.

The sheriff’s office employee was working Wednesday and experienced symptoms. The employee was sent home and received a positive rapid test. Two other employees who were in close contact have been quarantined.

The positive test is the second at the sheriff’s office in the last 45 days. The first person to test positive has since returned to work.