Southwest Illinois school district goes remote with surge in COVID cases, quarantines

A week and a half into the new school year, a Macoupin County school district is taking an “adaptive pause” because of an increase in COVID cases.

Staunton CUSD 6 alerted families on Thursday that the district would be closed for in-person learning until Aug. 30, including any extracurricular activities. The decision was made under the advisement of the Macoupin County Public Health Department and the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Beginning Monday, students will follow a full remote learning schedule; Friday was used as a planning day for staff to prepare for the change.

According to Staunton’s COVID tracker, positive student cases jumped from three last week to 16 this week; the number of quarantined students went from nine to 98 in the same time frame.

Only one staff member tested positive and had to quarantine in the first week and a half of school. Anyone over the age of 12 is eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, and vaccinated individuals do not have to quarantine, even if they’re a “close contact.”

Over the summer, the Illinois State Board of Education set the expectation that all school districts would start the year with a full in-person schedule.

This is a developing story and will be updated.