GREENFIELD — All hands are on deck at the Hancock County Health Department in response to news that a teacher at Greenfield Intermediate School has tested positive for the coronavirus, which may require contacting more than 100 people about their potential exposure.
Health department officials have determined that the individual who tested positive last had contact with others at the school on March 9. The teacher is not a Hancock County resident. Due to privacy laws, no other information about the individual can be released, including what county the person lives in and whether the person is currently hospitalized.
Joel Heavner, the health department’s emergency preparedness coordinator, said the department is working with Greenfield-Central schools to create a list of any student or staff member who would have had “close contact” with the teacher, meaning they were within 6 feet of one another for 10 minutes or more.
“That really narrows down our contact list,” Heavner said. The school has an enrollment of 528 students and approximately 30 administrators and teachers, according to the school’s website. Still, the health department estimates about 100 people may have had contact with the teacher.
COVID-19 is believed to have an incubation period of 14 days, meaning that anyone who was infected would develop symptoms within that time. For those potentially exposed at GIS, that would mean they would develop symptoms by March 23.
Heavner said if someone who was potentially exposed to the ill teacher has not had symptoms by then, they likely do not have the virus and do not need to self-quarantine any longer. They should, however, continue to practice typical social distancing.
If anyone who may have been exposed does develop symptoms, Heavner said, they should first contact their health care provider and then call the Health Department at 317-477-1125.
Parents who are concerned but whose children are asymptomatic are encouraged to contact the school district at 317-462-9211 rather than the Health Department.
“We’re going to go through as many calls as we can between now and the 23rd,” Heavner said.
Harold Olin, superintendent of Greenfield-Central Schools, said the school corporation’s response has involved a lot of collaboration with the county and state health departments and the Indiana Department of Education.
“It’s our goal to tell people what they need to know, but obviously we have to walk a fine line when you’re talking about (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) pieces with people’s health,” Olin said. “We want people to have peace of mind but at the same time we wanted to be honest about what was happening.”
The school corporation’s nurse has been working with the county health department to reach out to any students who were in the infected staff member’s classroom or would have interacted with them, Olin continued.
“We’re obviously encouraging people to monitor their symptoms,” Olin said. “If they have the symptoms — the fever, the dry cough — we want them to be in contact with their doctors. But for the most part it’s just telling people to continue social distancing and quarantining if they’ve been around particular individuals if they’re presumed to be positive. Encouraging people to have good social hygiene, basically.”
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The Hancock County Health Department recommends that families with children at Greenfield Intermediate school should first call their doctor if they are experiencing flulike symptoms. After that, they should call the health department at 317-477-1125.
People who have not experienced symptoms likely haven’t been exposed and should be in the clear by March 23, or 14 days after the teacher last had contact with anyone in the school, the health department says.
Parents with concerns may call G-C at 317-462-9211.
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