AUGUSTA — Capital Area Technical Center announced a positive COVID-19 case Monday night.
Nicholas Gannon, the director of CATC, addressed the case in a letter that was published on the Augusta Public Schools district website.
According to the letter, the individual with COVID-19 has been isolating since informing the school of the case.
Gannon wrote that individuals who may have been exposed were not at CATC until contact tracing was complete.
He explained further that the school was able to “quickly” identify those within close contact and was able to tell them not to come into school.
Gannon said that there are 19 students quarantining, which at a technical school can be “a challenge” and something that CATC “has worried about.”
There is also a probable positive case in addition to the reported positive case.
“It was hard in the spring, but we put a lot of work into prepping the inevitable,” he said. “But even with the best laid plans, we can’t fulfill all of the objectives that we would in a shop or a lab.”
In the spring, when CATC was fully remote, students used a combination of independent and remote work and an instructional lecture to watch.
“Splitting in person and at home doesn’t let us do all of the things to get the program objectives,” Gannon said.
The positive coronavirus test marks the first one reported at CATC has seen.
At the Augusta School Board meeting on Nov. 4, Assistant Superintendent Katy Grondin said though at that point CATC had seen zero cases, four students had been defined as close contact with a positive case elsewhere in the community and had to quarantine as result.
Farrington Elementary School in Augusta reported an “outbreak” Monday after having a total of four positive coronavirus tests, three of which were from over this past weekend.
In order to curve the coronavirus cases that may result from Thanksgiving and the holiday break, the Augusta Public Schools will have a full week of remote learning during the week of Nov. 30 to Dec. 4.
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