LANSING, Mich. — Lansing's Sexton High School was closed for two days this week, due to a COVID-19 outbreak. District officials said it started with members of the football team.
“Just under an abundance of caution, we thought it was necessary to close down sexton for the next two days,” said Superintendent Ben Shuldiner.
That decision was made on Wednesday after football players took rapid COVID tests. More than 15 players tested positive, district officials said. a
“If you have over 10 players that are positive and they each go to 8 classes and they are cohort with 3 or 4 folks, You very quickly get over well over 100 and 150 students,” Shuldiner said.
More than 1,000 students at Sexton had Thursday and Friday off because of the outbreak.
District officials said as of right now, no students outside of the football team have tested positive.
“What we’re going to do is be more vigilant,” Shuldiner said. “You know what’s really great is there hasn’t been a lot of transmission in school. So we're pretty proud of that.”
Classes at Sexton are expected to resume on Monday and district officials said they’re doing deep cleaning inside the building and there will also be rapid COVID tests for those students who may have had direct contact with a player who tested positive.
“We’r’e going to be doing it in the gym and with safety and security, nurses...and if they are negative they’ll be able to go back to class. And this will prevent them from having to quarantine for a full 14 days,” Shuldiner said.
Officials said they're grateful to students and parents for their support.
“It’s the day and age, and I think Sexton has done a good job protecting our kids,” said Kelly Van Schaick, a parent.
