On Friday, parents of students at Perry County School District received an email from superintendent Andy Comstock reporting "a high volume" of new cases of COVID-19 and resulting close contacts, many related to the school's homecoming celebrations both at the school and off campus — including hayrides, a dance and a party, none of which were sponsored by the district — the week before.
The letter came in the wake of last Thursday's announcement that Perryville High School's football team had to cancel its game against Hillsboro in the first round of the Class 4, District 1 playoffs scheduled for Oct. 30, effectively ending the Pirates' season.
"The Health Department expects to identify more positive cases and close contacts among our high-school population in the coming days," Comstock wrote in the letter. "This situation has already begun to impact other buildings through family and social contact."
According to PCSD communications director Kate Martin, the district already has one primary and one elementary classroom receiving 100-percent online instruction after exposure to positive individuals. In addition, an Adventure Club classroom has been quarantined for similar reasons.
On Oct. 26, the health department placed the entire junior varsity football team under quarantine.
As of Friday, there were 194 absences at PCSD related to the isolation or quarantine of staff and students because of COVID-19.
The Perry County Health Department on Friday reported 51 new cases in two days, — including 27 lab-confirmed cases and 6 probable cases on Thursday and 17 confirmed and 1 probable on Friday — and 22 recoveries, leaving the number of active cases in the county at 77.
Since the first case was reported in Perry County in March, the health department has reported a total of 990 cases, 904 recoveries and nine deaths related to the novel coronavirus.
At the state level, a late report issued last Thursday by the Department of Health and Senior Services showed a record number of 3,061 new COVID-19 cases. It was followed Friday by the second-highest single day total of 2,507 new cases, bringing the state's total since March to 180,200. By noon Monday, that number had risen to 188,186.
According to DHSS reporting, 54,807 of those cases were reported from Oct. 1-30, an average of 1,803 cases per day for the first 30 days of the month. From Oct. 24-30, the daily average was 2,173.
More than 3,030 people have died from COVID-related causes in Missouri since March, including 78 in the seven-day period from Oct. 24-30, an average of 11 per day.
A report issued last week by the White House Coronavirus Task Force put Missouri in its "red zone" after its seven-day case rate topped 101 per 100,000 residents and testing has revealed a positivity rate higher than 10 percent.
The report recommends the state take stronger measures to slow the spread of the virus, including wearing masks, avoiding crowds and limiting gatherings.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson — who is seeking election to his first full term as governor and has repeatedly refused calls to issue a statewide mask mandate — issued a news release last week highlighting the state's response to the pandemic with the headline “Conquering COVID-19: Keeping Missourians Safe.”
“A tremendous amount of work has been accomplished over the past eight months, and it does not stop here,” Parson said. “We have come a long way since March, and we will continue to do everything we can to respond to COVID-19 and keep Missourians safe.”
In Friday's letter to district parents, Comstock said that the district was doing everything it could to help control the spread of the virus and keep school in session.
"We are reinforcing with staff and students the importance of maintaining 6 feet between individuals, proper masking, and hand hygiene," Comstock wrote. "We continue to use approved methods of sanitation in our facilities and on buses to keep students and staff safe and healthy when they are at school.
"These measures, and every mitigating measure since the start of school, have been taken with the hope of reducing further interruption to our instructional process."
Comstock went on to briefly outline the district's plans for the spring semester.
"My administrators and staff have been working with the Perry County Health Department, and a committee of parents and board members to give our students even more time at school beginning in January," Comstock wrote. "Our goal is to create an instructional schedule that has our students at school more in a manner that is safe for them and our staff. It does not matter how much more time we add to our instructional schedule if students are being quarantined away from school, which could lead to more and more classrooms sent home, athletic events canceled, and entire buildings moving to online instruction."
