MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Several members of the University High School community are in quarantine after exposure to a West Virginia University student who tested positive for the coronavirus.
Monongalia County Schools Superintendent Eddie Campbell told MetroNews affiliate WAJR-AM the student, who worked as an athletic assistant, told officials about his test results. Contact tracing through surveillance footage determined the university student interacted with others in the high school’s gym and weight room.
“In a classroom situation, we don’t have video in all of our classrooms, so we can’t go back and look at the amount of contact an individual had,” Campbell explained. “In this particular instance, we were able to use that.”
Fifty-five student athletes and a coach will have to quarantine for 14 days.
Campell said the individual was around students for 90 minutes.
West Virginia University students work in Morgantown-area schools as student teachers, trainers and coaching assistants. Opportunities were suspended during the first semester as the school system and university could not agree on protocols.
“They go through a more stringent process to be able to be in our schools than what we actually put our own professional and service staff through,” Campbell noted.
As a result of the quarantine, tryouts for the boy’s basketball and wrestling teams have been postponed to Feb. 24.