The district says tomorrow, which is usually a distance learning day, will be used to test Elk Ridge students for COVID-19. School officials are working with the Salt Lake County Health Department to follow “Test to Stay” protocols.
Health officials believe a variant strain of the virus is believed to be driving the Elk Ridge outbreak, said Mary Hill, an epidemiologist supervisor with the Salt Lake County Health Department. A group of 78 Elk Ridge students were recently tested for the virus, and 26 of them tested positive, Hill said.
…that’s a 33 percent attack rate — which is really high — and we didn’t see that much with the first and second wave,” Hill said. “We’re hearing about this, from the variants, across the country and the world, and we’re starting to see it here in Salt Lake.”
According to Dr. Dunn, the outbreaks state health officials are tracking appear to be driven by variant strains of the virus, and are happening in populations of people ineligible to be vaccinated. Middle school students, based on their age, fall into that category.
