Hilton Head High pauses football as Beaufort Co. schools report 250 quarantining
Hilton Head Island High School is suspending its football program until at least Aug. 23 for “a few positive cases of COVID” on the team, according to a Monday afternoon email from principal Steve Schidrich.
The team’s Saturday game against Wilson High School has been canceled.
Schidrich originally told parents Sunday that the program would pause until Tuesday due to the COVID infections and “additional individuals quarantining as close contacts.”
As of Sunday evening, Beaufort County School District spokesperson Candace Bruder said the district had reported about 250 people in active quarantines for COVID-19 exposures. That’s around 1% of the district’s total population.
Additionally, the district reported 60 active COVID-19 infections, 11 of which were staff.
Those estimates might be lower than the actual number because school nurses are still looking at infection data from the weekend, she said.
With the football program’s suspension, at least four team sports at four different Beaufort County high schools have been impacted by COVID-19 this month.
Battery Creek High’s football team quarantined from July 30 to Aug. 8, and Beaufort High’s junior varsity cheerleading squad quarantined from Aug. 4-13. One COVID case was reported on each team, and about 50 people quarantined in total, Bruder said.
May River High’s cheerleading team is quarantining until Thursday. Up to 28 people could be quarantining, though Bruder said that number may be lower if athletes are vaccinated.
Shortened quarantines
The district is following the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control’s interim guidance for schools when establishing quarantines.
Those who are deemed “close contacts” under DHEC rules — meaning they have been within three feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes — are asked to quarantine for 10 days.
Close contacts who are fully vaccinated, and those who have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 90 days, are exempt from quarantines unless they become symptomatic.
DHEC recommends that fully vaccinated people get tested for COVID-19 three to five days after exposure and wear a mask at school until they get a negative COVID test result or 14 days after exposure.
According to Bruder, students in quarantine “will receive instruction from their teacher via virtual platforms, i.e. Google classroom or asynchronous instruction.”
Quarantining students who participate in class will be marked “SC-VTP” for being virtually present.
“If a student is sick and can’t participate, they will be marked absent,” Bruder said.
Students absent for reasons other than quarantine will not be allowed to participate in virtual instruction.
This story was originally published August 16, 2021 at 6:27 PM.