Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

NATCHEZ — Approximately 40 students and five staff members at five Natchez Adams School district schools have been quarantined after “presumed student exposure to a positive case of COVID-19,” school officials said.

Tony Fields, NASD public engagement coordinator, said the affected students and staffers were at Natchez High School, Natchez Early College, Natchez Freshman Academy, Robert Lewis Magnate School and Morgantown Middle School.

Fields said the school district learned of the possible COVID-19 exposure late Friday and the quarantine began with classes Monday and would last 10 days.

“The Natchez-Adams School District has followed CDC and the Mississippi Department of Health protocols due to presumed student exposure to a positive case of COVID-19 at Natchez High School,” states a press release from Fields. “As administrators and school medical staff conducted contact tracing, students and staff members who were found to have direct contact have been placed in quarantine only as a precautionary measure.

“Staff and students who may have had indirect contact have been instructed to monitor symptoms with no quarantine. Thankfully, as of this press release, no student or staff member affected has tested positive for COVID-19 or exhibited symptoms related to COVID-19.

“The Natchez-Adams School District will continue to be transparent with the mandatory reporting of COVID-19 cases to the Mississippi Department of Health. Anytime a confirmed positive case has occurred, or a presumed case has come to our attention, the Mississippi Department of Health, school medical staff, and school administration have worked together to use the best quarantine and mitigation practices.

On the homepage of the district’s website www.natchezschools.org, a COVID-19 reporting dashboard will coincide with the mandatory state reporting that individual schools must make each week.”