4 public, private schools in Bluffton and Hilton Head have reported COVID-19 cases
Correction: A previous version of this article stated an incorrect number of COVID-19 cases at Hilton Head Island High School. There was one contract employee at the school who tested positive for COVID-19. The article has been updated online.
Two private schools and two public schools in Beaufort County have confirmed COVID-19 cases among staff and students, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control reported Friday.
St. Gregory the Great Catholic School has reported one faculty COVID-19 case, which the school learned about on Aug. 23, and two student cases, which the school learned about on Aug. 24, Diocese of Charleston spokeswoman Maria Aselage said Monday.
In both cases, school principal Chris Trott emailed the entire school community, Aselage said. The faculty case was not included in DHEC’s report.
Dorothy Guscio, director of advancement for Hilton Head Christian Academy, said the school has reported one student case since returning to in-person classes on Aug. 5.
“The school learned of the case within the first week of instruction,” Guscio said. “All DHEC guidelines and school safety protocols were followed, and the student is now back in school.”
Guscio did not say whether the school notified any of its community members of the student case.
Hilton Head Island High School has reported one contract employee case, and May River High School has reported one student case and one staff case, Beaufort County School District spokeswoman Candace Bruder said Monday.
Bruder said the district was notified of the cases at May River High School on Sept. 5 and Sept. 8, and that no close contacts were identified, meaning that nobody in the school community was notified of the positive cases.
The district was notified of the Hilton Head Island High School case on Sept. 8, and identified two close contacts, neither of which were district employees. Both were “were notified by the contracting company,” Bruder said.
As of Monday, the district notifies only those who have been in “close contact” with an individual of a COVID-19 case. DHEC defines a close contact as someone who has been within six feet of an infected individual for at least 15 minutes.
When schools reopen, the district will publish a list of COVID-19 cases by school on its website, and will notify the parent or guardian of every student in a classroom with an infected individual when a case occurs.
St. Gregory and Hilton Head Christian are both offering in-person classes — Guscio said that 97% of Hilton Head Christian’s 452 students opted for face-to-face learning over virtual.
DHEC updates its report of COVID-19 cases by schools on Tuesdays and Fridays, and includes only students and staff “who physically attend school on a regular basis.”
While Beaufort County’s public schools began entirely-online classes on Sept. 8, DHEC’s numbers include students who come to campus for extracurriculars such as sports practices. Some Beaufort County teachers are working from home, and others are regularly working from their school buildings.
About 220 of the district’s special education students began hybrid instruction on Monday, where they will physically attend school twice a week for classes and therapy.
Beaufort County was reclassified as “medium-risk” from “high-risk” for COVID-19 in a Monday report from DHEC.
The DHEC classification system has three metrics:
The number of new cases in the past two weeks;
Whether new cases have increased, decreased or stayed level over two weeks;
Percent of positives among people tested for COVID-19 in the past two weeks.
The county had 194.7 new cases per 100,000 people in the past two weeks, considered “medium-risk” by DHEC. The trend in new cases was also classified as “medium-risk,” and the percent of positive tests — 12.6% — is considered “high-risk.”
Superintendent Frank Rodriguez told school board members on Sept. 1 that he would like to see “about three weeks” of a “medium-risk” rating from DHEC before reopening school buildings, along with a drop to 10% of COVID-19 tests in the county coming back positive.
He added that the district would give students and parents “about two weeks” notice before beginning in-person classes in addition to virtual offerings.
This story was originally published September 14, 2020 at 3:50 PM.