HOWARD – Late Monday night, East Knox Superintendent Steve Larcomb announced in a Facebook post that a junior/senior high school teacher had tested positive for COVID-19. On Tuesday morning, following a meeting with the Knox County Health Department, he provided an update on the district’s protocol moving forward.
“The East Knox administration worked with the Knox County Health Department this morning to determine who may have been exposed to the coronavirus,” Larcomb said in a post just after 10 a.m. “Under 30 students and staff may have had close contact with the teacher, but that does not mean they have been exposed for sure.”
The health department will contact those families by the end of the business day Tuesday, Larcomb said, and will recommend they self-quarantine. The health department has advised all other district families to self-monitor until March 25, Larcomb said.
“Self-monitoring means watch for your symptoms and take your temperature daily,” he said.
Larcomb urged district residents to call the health department if they exhibit symptoms, which are defined by the CDC as fever, cough or shortness of breath. These symptoms may occur 2-14 days after exposure.
“The health department states to continue to take normal precautions if you are not contacted to self-quarantine,” Larcomb added. “We will update you more as we know it.”
According to Pam Palm, the Knox County Health Department’s public information officer, the East Knox teacher who tested positive lives in Coshocton County.
“It’s Coshocton County’s first case, not Knox County’s,” Palm explained Monday night. “But there are implications for Knox because the teacher worked at East Knox.”
