GREAT FALLS — Jordan has closed all schools, moved students to remote learning, and postponed all sports events for the next two weeks after a teacher tested positive for COVID-19.
Superintendent Nate Olson posted a letter on the district's Facebook page saying that "many of the District's students and staff" had contact with the teacher during the possible exposure period, although the teacher last worked in person with others on September 25, four days before testing positive.
Olson also noted that the Garfield County Health Department will contact anyone believed to have been exposed to the teacher.
The district has implemented its Safe Return To School plan, which includes two weeks of off site learning, with students scheduled to return to school on October 12. Athletic events could start two days earlier on October 10, according to the district. The district also said that the ACT testing originally scheduled for October 6 has been moved to October 20.
As of Tuesday morning, according to the official Montana COVID-19 tracking site, there has been a total of 17 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Garfield County, with 15 of them listed as recovered, and two of them currently listed as active. There have been no COVID-related deaths reported in Garfield County.
- What constitutes a recovery? Click here for details
- Why the spike in COVID-19 cases? Click here for details
- Privacy laws and medical information: Click here for details
CDC: The federal Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) released data last month which emphasizes that people with contributing or underlying medical conditions are at much greater risk of dying from COVID-19. According to the CDC, an estimated 94% of all COVID-related deaths in the nation were people who had contributing medical conditions and diseases. The CDC report states: "For 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned. For deaths with conditions or causes in addition to COVID-19, on average, there were 2.6 additional conditions or causes per death." The report states that the most common underlying medical conditions that contributed to COVID-related deaths include respiratory diseases such as pneumonia, asthma, and COPD; diabetes; hyptertensive diseases; and heart disease. Click here to learn more on the CDC website.
The CDC also recently released an update to their research into fatality rates associated with COVID-19. A summary of COVID-19 survival rates is shown below; the summary is one of five based on several scenarios. The CDC data and scenarios can be found here.
COVID-19 Survival Rates
- Age 0-19: 99.997%
- Age 20-49: 99.98%
- Age 50-69: 99.5%
- Age 70+: 94.6%
The CDC says the scenarios are intended to advance public health preparedness and planning, and are not predictions or estimates of the expected impact of COVID-19. The parameter values in each scenario will be updated and augmented over time, as the agency learns more about the epidemiology of COVID-19. The update from September 10th is based on data received by the CDC through August 8.