Wayne County’s COVID cases are rising sharply, and as of Tuesday, Aug. 17, Centerville-Abington Community Schools is joining Richmond Community Schools in adding a mask requirement because more than 200 CACS students have had to be quarantined since its schools opened Aug. 9.

In a letter sent home Monday to families, Centerville’s Superintendent Mike McCoy announced the district has had 20 positive cases, causing more than 200 students to be quarantined.

Because CACS met the 10 percent threshold watched by the health department for students sent home because of COVID, he said the district was given two recommendations from the health department: masking of all students and staff, and/or closing the school for two weeks and returning with full mask requirements.

McCoy said the district decided to keep schools open and implement the mask mandate for all students and staff to help reduce the number of students sent home through contact tracing for numerous days.

If a positive student and close contact are both wearing masks, the district only has to quarantine students who have been within 3 feet of the positive student.

“Although we know this may not be a popular decision, our ultimate responsibility is the safety and education of our students and staff,” said McCoy, noting numbers will be monitored and the situation will be reassessed as things change.

Read more about recent local, state and national COVID developments in the Aug. 18 edition of Western Wayne News.

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