A transportation employee for Christian County Public Schools has tested positive for COVID-19, the school district announced Sunday.
As a result, the district is indefinitely closing the Transportation Department and the Maintenance Department.
Although the Christian County Health Department did not recommend the department closures, that decision was made by the school district “out of an abundance of caution,” district spokesman John Rittenhouse said in a news release.
“These closures will not interrupt the district’s efforts to provide and deliver nutritious meals to students who need those meals during this crisis. The meals will be delivered without the use of school buses or the assistance of Transportation Department employees,” the news release states.
Rittenhouse told Hoptown Chronicle that district employees will deliver meals in their personal vehicles.
“The Christian County Public Schools requests that those picking up or receiving meals follow social distancing guidelines for the safety of our students, our employees, and the public.”
The employee is not a bus driver, said Rittenhouse.
Another district employee — who worked in the Christian County Middle School cafeteria — also tested positive for the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, the district and the health department jointly announced Thursday, April 2.
That employee last worked on March 20 and the health department received confirmation of the employee’s positive COVID-19 test on Monday, March 30.
The school system and the health department said they were “working closely in this matter to monitor patient symptoms, identify direct contacts and prevent the spread of the virus.”
The school district is one of the county’s largest employers, with approximately 1,200 personnel, so it is not unexpected that some school employees will be among those who test positive for COVID-19.
Mary Ann Gemmill, who is retiring as superintendent, issued a statement about district food service employees who have been preparing meals for students while campuses are closed to instruction because of the coronavirus.
The district values its employees and has not forced any food service employee to work during the outbreak, she said.
“Each food service worker has been given the option of not working. Some food service workers have opted to stay at home during this crisis, which is understandable,” Gemmill said.
“It is a testament to the good spirit and character of our food service employees that we have been able to safety provide thousands of nutritious meals each day to those in need during this crisis,” she said.
The health department, though Director Kayla Bebout and spokeswoman Amanda Sweeney, has declined since the start of the coronavirus outbreak to independently identify the workplaces linked to a person testing positive for COVID-19. Instead, the health department offers to assist in the announcement if an employer chooses to be transparent about a coronavirus infection within its facility.
As of Friday, April 3, Christian County had 25 active cases of COVID-19. Three people previously diagnosed with the virus had recovered, the health department reported.
Sources separate from the health department have reported sites linked to COVID-19 cases.
On March 22, Hopkinsville Community College reported an employee had received a presumptive positive diagnosis for the virus. At that point, students had not been on campus for more than a week.
On March 24, the owner of Gracious Me! announced in a Facebook post that an employee had tested positive. At that time the employee had not been in the store for seven days. The store has since reopened for virtual shopping and is delivering packages.
Also, on April 2, Gov. Andy Beshear confirmed that three Western State Hospital patients had tested positive and that a test result was pending for a fourth patient. Western State Hospital, an in-patient psychiatric hospital, is on U.S. 68 on the east side of Hopkinsville.
This story has been updated to clarify that the school transportation employee who tested positive for COVID-19 is not a bus driver.
(Jennifer P. Brown is the editor and founder of Hoptown Chronicle. Reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org.)
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
