Milwaukee Public Schools employee tests positive for Coronavirus
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A Milwaukee Public Schools employee has tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19), according to the Milwaukee Health Department and the school district.
On Saturday, March 14, Superintendent Dr. Keith Posley confirmed the individual is an employee of Hopkins-Lloyd Community School.
MPS says the individual is under medical supervision, as city health department works to identify and connect with those who’ve been in contact with this person.
Mayor Tom Barrett said this person was tested on Saturday, and officials were alerted after results came back the same day.
School leaders would not divulge this person’s position within MPS or the elementary school.
Milwaukee Commissioner of Health Jeanette Kowalik said the employee contracted the virus while traveling within the United States.
On Friday, Governor Evers ordered all public and private K-12 schools to close by Wednesday, March 18.
MPS decided to close Friday, March 13, to prepare for its meal and resource distribution sites at 20 Milwaukee Public Schools.
Those sites open Monday and Superintendent Posley said those sites are safe.
"The school that is in question here is not one of the sites, not one of the 20 sites," Posley explained during the news conference. "And we’ll continue to do deep cleaning for all of our sites, especially those 20 that providing services out of starting Monday.”
“As individuals are being contacted they are being advised to self-quarantine which is just best practice, again, based off the CDC guidelines regardless of your risk status," Kowalik added. "And that’s just because this disease has an incubation period of 2-14 days.”
Commissioner Kowalik said this latest case means there are now 28 Coronavirus cases in Wisconsin, and two in Milwaukee.
More details were released at a news conference at 8 p.m. Watch it just below: