Boerne ISD reports COVID-19 case first week of school

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) – Just days after the Boerne Independent School District welcomed students back for in-person instruction, someone at one of the campuses has tested positive for COVID-19.

The unidentified individual at Champion High School will have to self- isolate and be free of coronavirus symptoms for 10 days before returning to the campus. It’s unknown whether the person is a student or a teacher, but officials are trying to identify those who may have been in close contact with this person and those individuals also will have to be quarantined for 14 days.

Last month, San Antonio Metro Health issued a directive to schools in Bexar County, urging administrators not to have in-person instruction until after Labor Day.  At the COVID-19 briefing Friday evening, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff noted that Boerne ISD spills from Kendall County into  Bexar County where the number of coronavirus cases and deaths are much higher, as well as the positivity rate, which is the percentage of positive cases compared to the number of those tested.

“There’s not a barrier between here and Kendall County.  There’s a mix going back and forth,” said Wolff.

Fair Oaks Ranch and Van Raub elementary schools, which are in Bexar County,  opened August 12 with other schools in Boerne ISD.

“I’m sure they did everything they could  to do it (open schools) the right way, but now you’re going to have, who knows how many students, that are going to have to be out of school for two weeks,” said Wolff.

He commended local school districts for abiding by the Metro Health directive to keep campuses closed until after September 8th, although there’s no guarantee that the COVID-19 situation will be much better by then.

“The likelihood of infection spreading is so much higher with our positivity rate being where it is.  Once we get that down below 5 percent, that likelihood decreases significantly,” said Mayor Ron Nirenberg.

San Antonio Metro Health reported 150 new COVID-19 cases Friday, bringing the total since the pandemic began to 43,823.   Eighteen more deaths, which occurred between June 17 and August 12, brought that total to 578.

The situation continues to improve at local hospitals with the number of coronavirus patients totalling 306, compared to 1,257 patients a month ago. Of those, 195 are on ventilators and 306 are in ICU, leaving 16 percent of staffed hospital beds and 55 percent of ventilators available.