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Decision to close Latah County school amid coronavirus concerns met with support

The district informed parents of the closure on Sunday and said that the school would undergo a deep clean as a precaution.

LATAH COUNTY, Idaho — School officials in the Latah County city of Genesee canceled classes on Monday as a precautionary measure due to coronavirus concerns.

Over the weekend, students from a Western Washington high school with a believed case of coronavirus were staying at the Genesee School while in the area for a University of Idaho Jazz festival.

The ill student did not make the trip to the Latah County city, roughly 15 miles south of Moscow, and the students who did visit Genesee's K-12 school were not at risk, said school officials.

"We just decided to err on the side of safety," said Genesee superintendent Wendy Moore of the closure.

The district informed parents of the closure on Sunday and said that the school would undergo a deep clean as a precaution.

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The news comes on the heels of a student at Jackson High School in Snohomish County that tested presumptive positive for the coronavirus last week. The infected student was "doing well," the Everett Herald reported on Friday. No other students have shown symptoms.

On Thursday, students from Jackson High arrived at Genesee's school as part of a weekend trip to UI's Lionel Hampton Jazz festival.

For at least the last decade, Jackson students have stayed at the Genesee school in an effort to offset costs associated with traveling to the jazz festival. Moore said the two schools have a reciprocal agreement and that Genesee band students have traveled to Jackson High for music events.

Moore said Jackson confirmed that the ill student was not part of the band trip.

"So we knew the student had not been here," she said. "It's just pure coincidence."

Additionally, the Washington Department of Health confirmed that the Jackson students who did visit Genesee were not at risk of getting sick nor were on a watch list, according to Moore.

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The visiting students slept in Genesee's band room and cafeteria and also had access to the school's gym. As a result, the areas underwent a precautionary deep clean over the weekend.

"That's shampooing carpets, doing handrails, doorknobs, just everything," Moore said. "We did decide we would take precautionary measures, just because we weren't sure of who all that exposure had been, if any other students had been sick and were not confirmed yet."

Also in Latah County, the Troy School District cancelled classes out of precaution. The Troy district had students visiting from Payette, Idaho for the jazz festival but none from Western Washington.

Although the risk is extremely low at this time, we are taking additional measures to provide extra disinfectant and will clean and sanitize all areas," wrote Troy superintendent Brad Malm in a message to parents.

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Moore said that Genesee community members had been understanding and supportive of the decision to cancel school and clean the building.

"They've called and said, 'Do you need extra hands to clean?'" she said. "I've had board members offer, I've had grandparents offer. So that has been wonderful to have that kind of community support."

"Thank you for being proactive in this situation," commented one woman on the district's Facebook page.

"Thank you for thinking about the safety of our children," wrote another.

"Hopefully, I think we pretty much covered our bases pretty well. I didn't have any students show up for school today not knowing [about the closure]," said Moore.

Moore added that the district likely wouldn't have to make up the canceled school day in the spring, saying that the district had enough hours built into its calendar.

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