COVID-19 outbreak reported among 2nd grade class at Penn Valley Elementary School
NARBERTH, Pa. - Members of a second-grade classroom in Montgomery County are quarantining after an outbreak of COVID-19 rocked them at Penn Valley Elementary School in Narberth.
Eight people in the classroom have tested positive for COVID-19, as well as two family members of the students who are fully vaccinated. School district officials said the first case was reported on April 15th, through the district reporting line. They had five students in close contact quarantine, but as cases popped up days after, they decided to quarantine the entire classroom.
"This is the first time we saw a cluster like this in a classroom, so naturally, it raised questions. We want to make sure we are doing the best we can to mitigate the virus for all of our students," Director of Community Relations for Lower Merion School District Amy Buckman said.
Buckman said an investigation into their HVAC system found an issue in the duct that was only allowing about 30 percent of the maximum air-flow into the classroom.
"It’s not something you would’ve known was broken, because there was still air coming out of the vent. It seems logical that this may have contributed to the outbreak, but we can’t say that for sure," Buckman added.
Citing the county’s Department of Public Health, the district says a variant of COVID-19 could also be to blame, but they did fix the duct issue and are doing air quality tests in all buildings.
"LMSD continues to work with and update MCOPH regarding this outbreak and all reported cases of COVID-19 within the District," said the school in a statement.
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