Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS) announced Tuesday that Central High School will go to remote learning days Wednesday and Thursday this week after a positive coronavirus case was identified at the high school.

Face-to-face instruction will be replaced with virtual instruction for two days to allow adequate time for the Grand Traverse County Health Department to complete contact tracing. Classes will follow the same remote school schedule used for the first two weeks of the school year. UpNorth Virtual Live students will log into their Brightspace or Google Classroom for each hour in order to receive instructions for their daily classes.

All school students and staff are asked to stay home during the remote learning days, including CHS students who attend the TBAISD Career-Tech Center or NMC dual enrollment. All school-sponsored activities and events are cancelled. Any rescheduling information will be shared directly by the program leading the activity or event. All other TCAPS buildings will continue face-to-face instruction.

The Health Department continues to investigate the situation and will directly notify any close contacts who may need to take additional health measures. If a student or staff member is not contacted by the Health Department, it means that either the staff member or student was not identified as a close contact of the person who tested positive. Parents and community members are reminded to continue to monitor themselves and their children closely for symptoms of COVID-19 illness, which are fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, or diarrhea.

As an additional precaution, Central High School will be deep cleaned and disinfected and any buses or other potentially affected areas will receive an additional cleaning and disinfection prior to student and staff use. Breakfast and lunch for Central High School students will be available for pickup at Eastern Elementary School at 7am to 8am on Wednesday and Thursday. Enter at the side entrance labeled “Extended Day Parking.”

TCAPS also announced a possible public exposure site for coronavirus Tuesday. The site is a LEAP volleyball game between West Middle School and East Middle School that took place at East Middle School on October 12 from 4:30pm to 5:30pm. Individuals present at the game during the time listed should self-monitor for COVID-19 symptoms for 14 days after the possible exposure, particularly if masking or social distancing protocols were not followed.