Indiana Student Tests Positive for Coronavirus After Returning to School

Stoking the fears many parents have had about sending their children back to school, a junior high school student in Indiana test positive for COVID-19 on their first day back.

Families of students at Greenfield-Central Junior High School were told on Thursday about the infected student who had attended school that day, the Indy Star reported.

The school said they isolated the infected student after learning that they had a positive test from the county’s health department. Those who had direct contact with the student for at least 15 minutes were also told the news and asked to quarantine for 14 days. The student will have to stay home for 10 days, according to the district’s new regulations.

The school has been reportedly disinfecting their classrooms and hallways nightly, and plans to do a deeper cleaning on the areas the student entered.

It’s not clear how the school became aware of the student’s positive test or when the student was tested.

With children preparing to return to school — virtually, part-time or in-person — much remains unknown for parents who desire to keep their children safe. Some teachers across the nation have been writing wills as they plan to return to in-person learning.

School districts in places like New York and Denver are planning to stick to remote learning until further notice, while schools in some states are set on bringing children back in person. The different approaches have caused controversy across the country.

Earlier in July, Florida’s largest teachers union, the Florida Education Association, sued top state officials over a mandate to return to in-person schooling five days of the week in the fall and said they can’t require teachers to do so without first shrinking class sizes and giving teachers the protective gear they need.

"We believe the teachers should have a choice," Fedrick Ingram, the president of the Florida Education Association, told NBC Miami.

RELATED STORIES