37 Tri-Cities school employees have contracted COVID since classes started
Thirty-seven employees in the Kennewick, Richland and Pasco school districts have reported testing positive for COVID-19 since the school year began.
Kennewick is the only district to publicly list how many staff members have gotten ill and where they work. So far, 14 employees and one student have reported testing positive for the virus.
Richland and Pasco released updated numbers to the Herald on Tuesday. Both districts are still teaching nearly all students remotely and have yet to decide when students should return to in-person classes.
Richland reported that six staff members have tested positive since the beginning of the school year.
None of them were working inside of the buildings or have had contact with any other staff or students, said Ty Beaver, the district’s communication director.
The district is planned to create an online dashboard to list the number of ill staff members and where they were working, he said.
Pasco had 17 staff members contract COVID since classes started online in late August.
Many Pasco School District employees are teaching virtually from their classrooms.
The district has cleaned the employees’ work areas and any other parts of the schools that they’ve visited, said Shane Edinger, the director of public affairs.
He said the Pasco district is continuing to evaluate options for posting regular updates on employee cases.
In Kennewick, about 250 more students started classes at their schools this week, including preschoolers. Next week, all kindergarten through fifth-graders are expected to return on staggered schedules.
Also, two employees in the Burbank school district also tested positive for COVID since Friday. The Columbia School District in Burbank and the Finley districts were the first to start in-person classes last week.
The Kennewick School District is urging people to get tested if they suspect they may have COVID, so that health officials can track the illness quicker and easier.