March 29, 2024

School, hospital report positive COVID-19 cases in their facilities

GREENFIELD — The Adair County Health System and Nodaway Valley Community School District each confirmed positive COVID-19 cases within their facilities over the last week.

On Sunday morning, district patrons received a message saying that the school district had been notified of a positive COVID-19 case within the district.

“If your child is identified as a close contact of a positive case (within 6 feet for 15 consecutive minutes or longer), you will be notified directly by our local public health office or Nurse Amy DeVault. Please understand that this is the only information the school will be releasing,” said the message, signed by DeVault and Superintendent Paul Croghan. “The district must protect confidentiality while keeping students and parents informed. Thank you for your understanding.”

The Free Press reached out to Croghan on Monday. While he could not comment on the positive case, he did say that the school district’s goal remains to carry out mitigation and prevention strategies and encourage them among students and staff in order to keep them healthy and safe.

On Friday, Adair County Health System announced it had been notified one of its own employees received a positive COVID-19 test. The hospital and employee were each taking measures to be safe and healthy, the report read.

“The area where the employee was working has been disinfected. This is in addition to the health system’s regular cleaning and disinfection procedures used throughout the hospital. The hospital is cooperating fully with contact tracing through Adair County Public Health. The staff member was wearing the mask and appropriate protection while near patients and it is believed no patients were exposed,” the hospital’s release read.

Adair County had 67 positive COVID-19 cases, 45 recovered with one death as of Tuesday morning.