ASHBURN, Va. — The Loudoun County Health Department has reported three positive coronavirus cases within the Loudoun County Public School system.
Two staff members at Waxpool Elementary School in Loudoun County, Va. tested positive, along with a staff member associated with Liberty Elementary School and Pinebrook Elementary School, school officials said.
Loudoun County Public Schools Superintendent Eric Williams first reported that a staff member from Waxpool is in self-isolation and in the process of recovering. On Saturday, he announced that Waxpool Elementary School Principal Michael Pellegrino had identified himself as the second staff member to test positive. Pellegrino is currently not experiencing symptoms and is self-quarantined at home, according to Williams.
LCHD said that anyone who has had close contact with Pellegrino should be notified by March 21. Everyone who had close contact with the first Waxpool staff member has been contacted, and several tests are pending from other members of the Waxpool Elementary School community who were symptomatic.
The health department is also in the process of contact tracing in regard to the staff member associated with both Liberty and Pinebrook.
"The staff member is receiving medical care and we wish them a complete recovery," Williams said.
Waxpool, Liberty and Pinebrook have been shut down to all students, employees and members of the public until further notice. Williams also listed out further guidelines for the school and community to take to help increase the well-being of the students, including suspending food distribution to students and closing all buildings for cleaning. Starting March 23, LCPS will deliver free meals to students who are eligible, Williams said.
On March 15, a Fairfax County elementary school teacher announced that she tested positive for the virus, and said she has spent the last week-and-a-half in quarantine.
Lynbrook Elementary school teacher Catherine Collett spoke to WUSA 9 via Facebook messenger to share what the testing process and quarantine experience have been like.
"I've actually been quite busy," Collett said laughing.
Collett said she and her husband, Diego, have spent the last 11 days in quarantine after they both tested positive for COVID-19. As they sit at home, she said they have been putting together puzzles, reading books, watching shows, and she even has posted lesson plans online for students.
"I'm running online schooling for my kids, trying to give them opportunities of things they could do while they're home," she said.
Other staff and administrators across the DMV are working to provide additional school work options to parents who are now watching children at home. D.C. Public Schools provided distance-learning packed to add on a curriculum that teachers were instructing before the shutdown.
