Breaking News! First Eagle Pass Independent School District Student Tests Positive for COVID-19 During First Week of Class, All Memorial Junior High Parents, Guardians, and Staff Given Notice Letter
By: Miguel Munoz, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2020
Contrary to Eagle Pass Independent School District (EPISD) Superintendent Samuel Mijares’ statement last week that no local student had tested positive for COVID-19 during the first week of school classes, Memorial Junior High parents, guardians, and staff received a written letter from EPISD Executive Director for Human Resources Jesus A. Costilla, dated September 7, 2020, notifying them that “a student was lab-confirmed to have COVID-19 was present on the campus of Memorial Junior High School on September 4, 2020.”
Costilla added that “Due to privacy requirements, we will not be releasing the name of the individual or details that may identify him or her.”
Costilla noted that “We are working closely with the local health department on this matter. After careful review, we have determined that the COVID-positive person did not come into close contact with students, staff or areas accessed by students or staff. Operations at Memorial Junior High School will continue as usual, and we will keep you apprised of further updates.”
Costilla added that “While we do not have reason to believe that those who were not in close contact with the infected individual have reason to be concerned, we ask that you, as always, watch for symptoms of COVID-19.”
Costilla proceeds to state “Any of the following symptoms indicate a possible COVID-19 infection: Temperature of 100.0 degrees Fahrenheit or higher when taken by mouth; sore throat, runny nose, chills, muscle aches, fatigue; new uncontrolled cough that causes difficulty breathing (or, for students with a chronic allergic/asthmatic cough, a change in their cough from baseline); diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, or abdominal pain; or new onset of severe headache, especially with fever; loss of taste or smell.”
Costilla adds that “If you or any member of the Memorial Junior High School community does begin experiencing any of these symptoms in a way that is not typical, we encourage you to contact your physician. We encourage anyone in the Memorial Junior High School community who is lab-confirmed to have COVID-19 to please notify our school by contacting Mr. Jose Hernandez, Jr., Memorial Junior High School Principal at (830) 773-8838.”
Costilla concludes the EPISD Notice Letter by stating “If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to Jesus A. Costilla, Executive Director for Human Resources at (830) 773-5181.”
This EPISD September 7, 2020 Notice Letter to Parents, Guardians, and Staff of Memorial Junior High School clearly demonstrates that there was at least one local student to have been lab-confirmed positive for COVID-19 during the first week of class.
Memorial Junior High School parents are upset and concerned that the EPISD September 7 Notice Letter raises more questions than answers. One parent stated that the EPISD is placing the entire burden on parents, guardians, staff, and students to protect their health and safety without any recommendation or plan of action by the school district to remedy the “situation” such as testing everyone at the school campus or pausing classes until it is indeed confirmed there is no present health and safety danger to anyone. Another parent stated that they were going to stop sending their children to in-person instruction and switch to online/remote instruction.
The EPISD September 7 Notice Letter to Parents, Guardians, and Staff clearly demonstrates that despite best efforts by local authorities to slow the transmission of COVID-19 in the community, all of the current policies and procedures in place are not foolproof safe of easily being breached by fellow human beings and spreading the novel coronavirus within the community, as well as not all local citizens have knowledge of the Local Health Authority and Emergency Operations Center policies and procedures since many do not have a laptop computer and/or access to the internet.
This particular situation at Memorial Junior High School last week should be utilized by the EPISD and all local authorities to review and improve their policies and procedures concerning COVID-19 and widen the public information network to all news media and social network sources available within the community in order to reach all citizens of Maverick County.
This incident is definitely a warning to everyone at the EPISD, all local authorities, health care providers, public health providers, parents, guardians, staff, students, and citizens to follow and abide with the strict CDC Guidelines, state, county, and city declarations of disaster and public health emergency before it becomes a larger problem in the community. COVID-19 is not a hoax and it does not discriminate as to who it infects. It is a matter of life and death. Nationally, there are already over 6 Million cases of infection and over 190,000 people dead from COVID-19.