Entire Blue Valley West High School football team in quarantine after 3 COVID-19 cases
Three people associated with the Blue Valley West High School football team have tested positive for COVID-19, sending the entire program into a 14-day quarantine, as first reported by a Kansas City TV station Thursday.
Practices for fall high school activities, including football, started Monday across Kansas. Blue Valley West’s first game is scheduled Sept. 4 against BV Southwest. That game would be one day after the team, more than 100 people all told, comes out of quarantine.
A Blue Valley School District official confirmed the validity of the report about the team’s quarantine Thursday evening with The Star. KSHB had earlier reported that a district spokesperson said the district had consulted with the Johnson County Department of Health and Environment before making the decision to quarantine the team.
At least one Blue Valley North player was reported to have tested positive for COVID-19 Monday when practices began, but that team has been allowed to return to practice, according to the school district.
On Tuesday, the Blue Valley school board voted to reject the Johnson County health department’s criteria for reopening schools. The school board instructed the district to form a committee that will examine COVID-19 data in Blue Valley ZIP codes. It will create its own plan for how to open schools, based on guidance released by the Kansas State Department of Education, which uses more data points than the county’s criteria.
In the meantime, the school board agreed to let sports continue, including high-risk sports, such as football.
Sarah Ritter of The Kansas City Star contributed to this report.
This story was originally published August 20, 2020 at 6:20 PM with the headline "Entire Blue Valley West High School football team in quarantine after 3 COVID-19 cases."