ERIE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH PROVIDES STATEMENT ON DEPEW MIDDLE SCHOOL’S SHIFT TO REMOTE LEARNING

ERIE COUNTY, NY – The Erie County Department of Health (ECDOH) is providing this statement following Depew Middle School’s shift to online learning in response to a rapidly progressing COVID-19 outbreak.

ECDOH recommended a switch to remote learning for a 10-day period based on 11 reported COVID-19 cases within seven days.

A decision like this is never easy, and the decisive action taken by Depew Central Schools reflects their commitment to the health and safety of their school community. ECDOH thanks them for their cooperation and support of sound health policy.

At this time the ECDOH school epidemiology team has not found evidence of in-classroom transmission. However, through case investigations, multiple other transmission sources, including youth sports, within households, and from the community, are suspected. Together, these multiple transmission sources raise the overall risk level within the building and were factors in the ECDOH recommendation.

ECDOH works closely with school and district staff and will continue to help them evaluate the situation.

Parents and staff who wish to seek a free diagnostic COVID-19 test through ECDOH for themselves or a child can call (716) 858-2929. Diagnostic COVID-19 tests are strongly recommended 5-7 days past the last date of exposure.

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• Erie County Department of Health (ECDOH), COVID-19 Test Sites: www.erie.gov/covidtestsites
• ECDOH COVID-19, Schools: http://www.erie.gov/covid19/schools
• ECDOH, COVID-19 Information Line: (716) 858-2929 – foreign language interpretation available

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