Cases of COVID-19 hit Lathrop, EB Schools

Schools and sports have returned throughout Northwest Missouri, but not without some roadblocks due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Locally, the biggest hit came this week when high school students at Lathrop R-II School District were forced to begin the 2020-2021 school year from home, due to a positive COVID-19 case among the football coaching staff.

Late on Tuesday evening, the district announced that more positive tests had been received in the football program, and all football players would be asked to quarantine through Friday, September 12.     

The football game scheduled for this Friday, September 4, at home against Savannah, had already been cancelled due to a positive case of COVID-19 in the Savannah school district. With the coaching staff and players sequestered for two weeks, it’s unlikely the team will get to play its KCI Conference opener against East Buchanan scheduled for Friday, September 11. More likely, the Mules won’t return to the gridiron until they host KCI Conference front runner Mid-Buchanan on Friday, September 18.

Fine said that they hope to find enough substitute teachers to fill the void left by the coaching staff and begin learning on the district’s hybrid schedule, which mixes both in-person and virtual learning.

Due to the football game played Friday in Richmond, the Richmond school district announced Monday that all football players in that game were to quarantine and monitor for symptoms.

Excelsior Springs (who played against Savannah on Friday) and Lawson, who was unable to play in their opening game Friday, have also been impacted by COVID-19 early on this year.

East Buchanan had presumed positive students in the elementary school on Tuesday, August 25, and were notified that Thursday. The district worked with the Clinton County Health Department to conduct contact tracing, and those affected by the presumed positive are now in quarantine.

The Clinton County Health Department announced on Tuesday, September 1, that the county is up to 131 total positive cases since the beginning of the outbreak, with 11 probable cases and 10 total hospitalizations. There are 24 active cases in the county. The department added that there have been five cases in the county’s school districts, leading to 53 close contacts going into quarantine.

The department did report that the county is seeing a decline in weekly cases, falling from 24 cases the week of August 10 to just 10 cases last week.

Throughout the region, the City of Kansas City is up to 9,295 cases as of Tuesday, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. The areas of Clay and Platte Counties outside of Kansas City’s limits were at 1,381 cases and 477 cases, respectively. Buchanan County was up to 1,300 cases, DeKalb County was up to 65 cases, and Caldwell County is at 42 cases.