ESCONDIDO, Calif. — Two days after the Escondido Union School District resumed on-campus instruction in a hybrid model, district officials reported 81 students and 15 staff members from four schools now are under quarantine.
The bulk of those are from Farr Elementary where four positive cases of COVID-19 were reported. As of Friday, 44 students and five staff members from the school are quarantining.
At Mission Middle School, one positive case resulted in 16 students under quarantine, along with four staff members. A positive case at Rock Springs Elementary led to 12 students quarantined.
Nine students and two staff members also are under quarantine after a case at Pioneer Elementary.
“We have very strict health and safety standards at our school sites,” Superintendent Luis Rankins-Ibarra said in a statement. “We’ve taken every precautionary measure, including implementing quarantines. We are doing everything possible to ensure a safe environment for our students and employees while they are on campus.”
He added, “However, we cannot control the environments off campus.”
Erica Farmer, who has two students at Farr and one at Pioneer, said she trusts the district is making the right decision about reopening.
“My kids were really excited to go back,” Farmer said. “Keeping them away was hurting them in a way. It’s like, do you take the risk or do you keep them locked up in the house?”
The district says the cases were not transmitted at the schools and that they involve individuals who were already infected when they got on campus. Quarantines will last for 10 days.
Rankins-Ibarra said he recommended the return to campus based on data indicating a downward trend in case rates and hospitalizations.