One positive case of COVID-19 at Sturgeon Bay High School sent the rest of district searching for who else may be affected. Sturgeon Bay School District was notified of the positive test late Wednesday, which forced two other high school students attending classes in person and two more learning virtually to continue their studies in quarantine. The positive case also led to seven students and one staff member at T.J. Walker Middle School and five students and two staff members at Sawyer Elementary School to be quarantined as of Thursday afternoon. Sturgeon Bay School District Superintendent Dan Tjernagel emailed DoorCountyDailyNews.com Thursday evening that one staff member who worked with the affected student will be getting tested to be safe and will be out for a bit. Adding to the confusion was a letter sent to parents that the affected high school student had been out of class since September 8th. Initially, more students and staff members at the high school were notified they were supposed to quarantine before further investigation by the Door County Public Health Department was able to reduce that number. Tjernagel says moving forward, school districts and their medical partners will have to improve their communication with each other.

He says schools may play a bigger role in contact tracing down the road since they have information on the student’s schedule, how to contact parents, and which staff members they may have worked with in classes. Tjernagel added more conversations need to happen before that occurs since they do not have the medical background other contact tracers may have now. Luxemburg- Casco and Sevastopol also reported positive COVID-19 tests this week.