Katy ISD school with 43 active cases decides to temporarily close

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Thursday, October 29, 2020
School with more than 40 COVID-19 cases now closing
Seven Lakes High School in Katy ISD originally chose to stay open, but that was before health officials stepped in.

KATY, Texas (KTRK) -- Seven Lakes High School, where at least 43 active coronavirus cases were identified this week, will close beginning Friday despite the cases falling under its threshold to shut down.

On Thursday, Katy ISD disclosed that the move to temporarily shut down the campus came after the Fort Bend County Health and Human Services Department sent the district a "Corrective Action Advisement."

During the closure, in-person students will be provided "Intermittent School to Home" virtual learning through next Tuesday.

Students and staff are expected back for in-person learning the day after that on Wednesday, Nov. 4.

The district also suspended extracurricular and student programs at the school.

According to Katy ISD's count, 1,846 students have been taking in-person learning at Seven Lakes, with about 300 staff members at the campus.

As Eyewitness News first reported Thursday morning, the cases are concentrated on the volleyball and cheer teams.

Despite more than 40 cases, the school originally chose against closing due, in part, to district protocol calling for closures when 10% of the campus population is infected. The current cases amount to about 2%.

The district said it is continuing to monitor the situation and would inform the public of additional information as needed.

In all, Katy ISD has counted 184 active cases, as of Thursday, with 135 of them students.

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