Manson School Distrcrt letter to parents and staff on COVID-19 outbreak in state

from the Manson School District website:

Dear Parents:


As most of you are aware, Washington state has become a focal point of the coronavirus right now. The health and safety of our students, families and staff are of utmost importance to us. We are working closely with the Chelan Douglas Health District as well as WA Department of Health to stay up to date on the latest facts and advice for schools. We are aware that some of our students were at events in the Seattle and Idaho area this past weekend. At this time, our conversations with the health department indicate that there is no need for us to exclude any students or close school. In situations like this, it is best to rely on factual in formation
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I am hoping the information contained here will be that information that will provide some clarity and ease some minds at this time. All of this information is from the WA State Department of Health, specifically directed at schools.
What do we know?
• Of the known cases in China (77,262), only 2% of those involved kids (people under 20 years old)
• Known symptoms include: fever, cough, shortness of breath (these symptoms are obviously present in other
illnesses that are NOT coronavirus as well)
• The deaths in WA state have been in people with chronic health conditions and co
- existing medical conditions
• People with coronavirus can have no symptoms or develop mild or serious illness
• 13 positive cases and 2 deaths in WA state
• 231 people under Health Department monitoring (based on their potential exposure)
• CDC is arriving in WA state today to assess the situation, specifically in the Kirkland area (this seems to be the hub of activity right now)
• WA DOH maintains a webpage (https://www.doh.wa.gov/coronavirus) with all the latest data
What should we do?
Encourage students and staff to:
• Stay home when sick
• Perform frequent hand washing with soap & water (If not available, use alcohol
- based hand sanitizer)
• Avoid touching eyes/nose/mouth with unwashed hands
• Cover coughs/sneezes with a tissue, then throw tissue in trash and clean hands with soap/water (or hand
sanitizer)
• Provide adequate supplies for good hygiene
• Follow your routine cleaning and disinfection program
We do know that the information about coronavirus is frequently changing and we are both monitoring that information and how it relates to our district on a day to day (sometimes hour to hour) basis. At this point, no district events/trips are being cancelled. If circumstances change, we will re
- evaluate based on those circumstances and guidance from the Health
Department. As we have information that needs to be shared, we will do that in a timely manner.