Coronavirus Update, October 23, 2020
In other news, The Tompkins County Health Department is alerting the community of possible public exposure of COVID-19 on a TCAT bus on Thursday, October 15, 2020.
Potential exposures may have occurred on the Route 31 inbound bus: 10:27am-10:58am to Seneca St., and route 43 outbound: 12:00pm-12:36 to Tompkins Cortland Community College and Dryden. The health department is asking passengers who rode on bus Routes 31 and 43 on October 15 to seek COVID-19 testing. Visit tompkinscountyny.gov/health for information on how to get tested.
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Ithaca City School District stated on Thursday that Ithaca High School will be closed for the next two weeks, according to the Ithaca Voice. The closure is a result of a contact investigation that was conducted after three students tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The investigation revealed that there was potentially widespread contact with the virus, resulting in many students and staff being required to quarantine.
Initially the district hoped that IHS would re-open on October 26th which would have resulted in only missing two in-person learning sessions. But because of the contact investigation, the school determined this was not possible. Cayuga Heights Elementary is still technically set to resume in-person learning on October 26th, as Superintendent Luvelle Brown has not spoken whether or not this will change.
ICSD is giving out free pick up meals for breakfast and lunch for students participating in distance learning. Those picking up meals are required to wear masks. They are available Monday through Friday 10am to noon at Ithaca City School District middle schools, elementary schools and the West Village Apartments. Meals are also available from 10am-12:30 at Ithaca High School Monday through Friday.
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Looking at the local COVID-19 caseloads for our counties, the latest numbers, released Friday from the Tompkins County health department, indicate that there is 8 additional positive, and 9 new recoveries. According to the County Health Department, that leaves 86 active cases of COVID-19 in Tompkins.
In Schuyler County, there are 5 new cases of COVID-19 reported as of Friday, according to their Health Department. 25 active cases remain.
Contributing writing by WRFI news Interns Tessie Devlin and Christian Maitre