A total of four people in Indiana have now tested positive for the new coronavirus. The latest case involves an adult from Noble County and a student from an Avon elementary school.
Avon Community School Corporation Superintendent Margaret Hoernemann announced Monday all schools in the district will be closed through March 20.
“The Hendricks County Health Department and Avon Community Schools are working closely to determine the web of individuals who have had direct contact with the two students,” Hoernemann says. “That web has grown very large.”
The move comes after a second student showed symptoms of COVID-19. State health officials declined to give more details on that case citing privacy concerns.
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Avon schools held an e-learning day today. Indiana State Health Commissioner Kris Box encourages students to stay home and avoid contact while they are out of school.
“This is not a spring break where everybody runs out and goes to the mall, go to the movies” Box says. “We really need, if we are going to have this work, to have these individuals social distance. Which means you go home. The point of this is to kind of socially distance children and other individuals.”
Separately, a fourth case has been identified in northeast Indiana in Noble County. Parkview Health says the patient is in isolation and recently traveled out of state.
The Indiana State Department of Health announced the first case of COVID-19 last Friday morning – an Indianapolis man who recently traveled to Boston for a conference. A second casewas identified Sunday involving an adult patient who had traveled to that same conference.
Box encourages anyone who is sick to social distance and stay home. If you are showing symptoms of COVID-19, call a doctor to determine if you should be tested.
Contact Darian at dbenson@wfyi.org or follow her on Twitter at @helloimdarian.