Olympia elementary school latest to pause in-person learning over COVID outbreak

An Olympia elementary school will be closed for the next 10 days, in the wake of a COVID-19 outbreak affecting over a dozen students.

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Littlerock Elementary is dealing with 16 confirmed COVID-19 cases among its 323 total students, and at least 64 other students have been quarantined due to either “close contact or illness.” An additional staff member is also in quarantine.

The Tumwater School District superintendent says in-person learning will be closed until Oct. 14.

“The health and wellbeing of each of our students and staff is priority and this suspension of in-person instruction will give a chance for the illness cycle to be mitigated in our school community,” the district said in a message to parents published on the website for Littlerock Elementary.

Teachers will contact families about remote learning plans.

This marks the latest school in the Northwest forced to pause its return to in-person learning this fall. Eatonville Middle School sent students home in late-September over a COVID outbreak of its own, with the tentative plan to bring them back on Oct. 11.

Near Portland, Oregon, an outbreak of four cases at Reynolds High School closed down the school on Sept. 16. The school brought students back in person on Monday, Sept. 27.

On balance, though, the vast majority of Washington schools have been able to remain open.

Seattle Public Schools reports 156 confirmed COVID-19 cases among all students and staff over the two-week period ending on Sept. 24, marking a slight decrease over the 162 identified in the previous two weeks.

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The Lake Washington School District reports 40 cases over the two-week period ending on Oct. 1, in increase of seven over the previous two weeks.

The Bellevue School District reported 14 cases over a two-week period ending on Sept. 30, roughly on par with what it saw in previous periods.

The Northshore School District reports 65 COVID cases over the last two weeks, down from 82 it reported previously.