MESILLA – Public schools in Las Cruces reported on Monday that a eleventh worker tested positive for COVID-19.
A staff member assigned to Zia Middle School in Mesilla reported that they had tested positive on Monday afternoon, resulting in the immediate closure of the site for disinfection.
In a press release, the district said the school was scheduled to reopen on Thursday.
The announcement came about a week after two employees, one at Hermosa Heights Elementary and the other at Mesa Middle School in Las Cruces, tested positive for the disease through the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
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At least 8 of the 11 workers in the district who tested positive have been negative since then and have been allowed to return to work, according to the district.
Las Cruces Public Schools has been offering distance education, largely depending on online learning, since March, after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a public fitness emergency after the COVID-19 pandemic. Some teachers to teach from their classrooms and school sites are also open to some non-teaching staff members.
Starting with Labor Day, school districts, and autonomous schools with state-approved action plans in counties that meet certain public fitness criteria have been allowed to resume face-to-face education for younger students. However, the Las Cruces School Board voted in September to stick to distance education until December.
The State Department of Public Education has reported a total of 172 cases in 88 state public schools since August 17, 124 of the cases concerned members, and the remaining 48 were students.
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The branch announced that 12 news instances were known in New Mexico schools in more than 72 hours, adding the case of Zia Middle School, as it became known Monday afternoon.
The state has noticed an increase in transmission since Labor Day weekend. The New Mexico Department of Health announced 143 new COVID-19 cases across the state on Monday, bringing the total number of known cases in New Mexico to 28985. 909,505 tests documented through the DOH, 3. 2% were positive, with 16,422 or 56. 7% designated as recovered.
A total of 873 disease-related deaths documented on Monday.
You can contact Algernon D’Ammassa at 575-541-5451, adammassa@lcsun-news. com or @AlgernonWrites on Twitter.