Waynesville R-6 schools reports 8 more covid cases

The Waynesville R-VI School District has received notification that eight more individuals have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. The number of individuals and the buildings impacted is as follows: 2 at Waynesville High, 3 at Waynesville Middle, 2 at Partridge, 1 at East, and 1 at Other. The category “other” is used to identify staff members at Piney Ridge Center School, Transportation, and Administration. Unless parents are notified privately otherwise, their students may remain in school, per guidance from the Pulaski County Health Department. Under the direction of the Pulaski County Health Department, students who have had close contact with the positive cases will need to be in isolation for 14 days. Parents of the students who came in close contact with this individual have been or will be contacted privately by the Waynesville R-VI School District. According to the health department, isolation means that your student should remain at home for 14 days and take their temperature twice daily. Continue to monitor your child for symptoms during their isolation time period. The child should remain in his/her room or separate area removed from others, eat meals in their room, and use a separate bathroom, if possible. Wearing masks and keeping socially distanced has kept the close contact list to a limited number of students. We ask that parents continue to reinforce these preventive measures so that the district can continue to keep students safe in school. To be clear, only those students who have had close contacts with the positive cases — and those individuals will be contacted privately — will need to follow the Pulaski County Health Department’s recommendations for 14 days of isolation. 8th-graders at Waynesville Middle School will return to the classroom on October 5th.