Two schools in St. Louis are temporarily closed after the father of the first person in Missouri was diagnosed with the coronavirus attended a dance.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the patient’s family was instructed to self-quarantine Thursday at their home in Ladue but didn’t follow health department instructions.
According to Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill School in Frontenac, the father and sister of the infected patient attended the father-daughter dance Saturday night at the Ritz-Carlton in Clayton. KSDK reports that they left when they learned about the positive result, which was announced Saturday.
They also apparently attended a pre-dance gathering at the house of a family whose children attend Villa and the private John Burroughs School in Ladue. The handful of students who attended the dance was asked to stay home when the information was brought to the head principal’s attention.
Health officials have advised the man “that he must remain in his home or they will issue a formal quarantine that will require him and the rest of his family to stay in their home by the force of law.”
His daughter who tested positive for coronavirus after returning home from Italy, which has been the epicenter of Europe’s outbreak of the virus that causes COVID-19. The woman attends an out-of-state school and had been studying abroad.
Before seeking treatment, she flew into Chicago O’Hare International Airport on March 2, stayed with a friend, then took an Amtrak train home to St. Louis on Wednesday, according to Doug Moore, spokesman for Page.
Because she was starting to feel ill, she decided to contact the St. Louis County Department of Public Health on Thursday. She apparently stayed home and did not have contact with anyone until she was instructed on Friday to go to Mercy Hospital in Creve Coeur for testing.
Amtrak said in a news release that they are notifying passengers and employees who were on Amtrak train 303 with the woman. The release said that as a precaution, the train also has been taken out of service for comprehensive cleaning. The train stations in Chicago and St. Louis also are being cleaned.
The process of determining who needs to be notified, checked for symptoms and tested is still unfolding.
Two St. Louis Schools Are Closed After Coronavirus Diagnosis was originally published on hot1041stl.com
