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Nearly 10% of Tabor students isolated or quarantined

Staff writer

Tabor College announced Thursday that five students were in isolation with COVID-19 and 50 more were in quarantine because they were in close contact with someone infected with the virus.

That means 9.2% of the 600-member student body is isolated or quarantined.

Tom Shaw, vice president for advancement at Tabor, said none of the positive cases have been of a serious nature.

Students in isolation with the disease are housed at an 18-bed facility connected to the former Hillsboro hospital, now Salem Home. The isolation unit is separate from Salem Home itself.

Shaw said the isolation unit is not used for quarantine. Students in quarantine stay in campus-zone student housing or at home if they live close enough.

They are able to attend classes online, he said.

“None of the positive cases have been of a serious nature and the college continues to work closely with the Marion County Department of Health and the Hillsboro Community Hospital,” Shaw said.

Shaw said none of the five students now sick with the virus were among the seven cases reported Wednesday by Kansas Department of Health and Environment as an active cluster on the school’s soccer team.

“The ones that were soccer team related have all been cleared,” Shaw said.

County health administrator Diedre Serene explained that clusters now being reported by the state remain on KDHE’s cluster list until 27 days have passed with no new cluster-related cases.

Shaw also said the athletes’ long-term health was not jeopardized by the virus.

Shaw said protocols Tabor developed to combat COVID-19 had mitigated and helped contain the virus.

None of the five cases are new this week, Shaw said.

“If this trend continues, by next week there will be no one left in isolation and very few in quarantine,” Tabor president Jules Glanzer said.

Marion County Health Department reports 97 COVID-9 cases since the epidemic began, with 21 cases active as of Tuesday and no patients hospitalized.

The state’s cluster list includes 542 clusters that resulted in 10,926 infections, 648 hospitalizations, and 308 deaths. The 177 clusters considered active have resulted in 5,099 cases, 192 hospitalizations, and 63 deaths.

Tabor’s soccer team was the lone cluster listed from Marion County, but other clusters involve places county residents may have had contact.

Other sports teams on the list are Dodge City Community College athletics with 37 cases; the University of Kansas football team, 14 cases; the Kansas State university football team, 11; Baker University’s soccer team, 6; and Kansas City’s Dynasty volleyball team, 6.

The Chase County Detention Center in Cottonwood Falls was listed as having 56 cases, and El Dorado Correctional Facility was listed with 12.

Sedgwick County Jail topped the list of prisons and jails with 491 cases, closely followed by Hutchinson Correctional Facility with 403. Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility has 197, and Winfield Correctional Facility has 17.

Among colleges and universities, seven fraternities or sororities at K-State made the list: Delta Sigma Phi with 19 cases; Kappa Kappa Gamma, 9; Theta Xi, 8; Phi Delta Theta, 7; Alpha Delta Pi and Sigma Delta Epsilon, 6 each; and Alpha Xi Delta, 5.

Overall, Pittsburg State University topped the list of colleges and universities with 100 cases. Benedictine College in Atchison has 98; Fort Hays State University, 45; Bethel College, 43; Dodge City and Hutchinson community colleges, 12 each; Hesston College, 7; and Emporia State University, 6.

Long-term care facilities have accounted for 202 of the 245 cluster deaths, with religious gatherings accounting for the next highest number, 13.

Clusters are identified by name if they have five or more cases, except for private businesses and meat packers, which are identified only if they have 20 or more cases.

No clear explanation other than this was provided as to why only 79 of 177 active clusters were identified Wednesday.

People who test positive for COVID typically are isolated, and those exposed to them are quarantined for at least 14 days to see whether they develop symptoms. No numbers on how many people are quarantined were released.

Last modified Sept. 11, 2020

 

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