Some classrooms at Kincaid Elementary, Bear Valley Elementary closed for 10 days after COVID-19 exposure

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - A Bear Valley Elementary classroom will be closed until Feb. 1 after the class was exposed to COVID-19.

The Anchorage School District lists COVID-19 school closures on its website. Currently, Bear Valley Elementary and Maplewood Group Home are impacted by COVID-19 exposures. ASD’s website states the Maplewood Group Home is having students isolate after exposure to a COVID-19-positive non-ASD staff member. On Tuesday, ASD also closed one classroom at Kincaid Elementary until Feb. 2.

The district would not say if the COVID-19 exposure at Bear Valley Elementary was in a student or a staff member, but said the district has determined where COVID-19 transmission could have occurred at the school and asked all close contacts to stay home for 10 days.

“Because it is not possible to determine every interaction in a classroom or the duration of those interactions, all classroom members are considered close contacts,” ASD said in a written statement.

The person with COVID-19 will stay at home until they are no longer infectious, but other close contacts are able to return to school on Feb. 1. Until then, students in the classroom will continue learning from home.

ASD said siblings or household members of students who have been identified as close contacts are still able to attend in-person school unless the student’s household member has COVID-19.

Editor’s Notes: This story has been updated to include information about a second closed classroom in the Anchorage School District.