1 COVID case puts 674 Las Vegas high school students in quarantine

A total of 674 Desert Pines High School students were quarantined last week after a single COVID-19 case on the campus during summer school, according to Clark County School District records.

Letters sent to families and employees of the northeast Las Vegas school on June 15 indicate that a person on the campus tested positive for the coronavirus the week of June 7. The letters, obtained by the Review-Journal via public records request, provide quarantine instructions for anyone who had close contact with the individual.

Quarantine indicates only that a student has potentially been exposed to the disease. Those who are confirmed to have the disease or are symptomatic after an exposure are asked to isolate.

A school district representative said the person who tested positive at Desert Pines had been in multiple locations throughout the campus, and students were notified they needed to quarantine “out of an abundance of caution.”

To the representative’s knowledge, the school did not close.

The number of Desert Pines students in quarantine as of June 16 was significantly more than the highest number at an individual school reported by the district in March and April.

During the week of March 8, for example, 84 students were in quarantine at Galloway Elementary School, with a total of 308 students in quarantine districtwide.

During the week of April 12, 685 students were in quarantine districtwide.

Records did not indicate that Desert Pines had any other COVID-19 cases reported in the first two weeks of June.

Students in quarantine were allowed to return to the campus by Monday or earlier if they tested negative for COVID-19 and remained symptom-free.

Though the school year ended on May 26, many students have been on campuses since June 1 for the district’s new summer school program.

Contact Aleksandra Appleton at 702-383-0218 or aappleton@reviewjournal.com. Follow @aleksappleton on Twitter.