What happens when COVID-19 is in our midst

MEDICAL LAKE – Superintendent of Schools Tim Ames wryly remembered the phone call he got on Saturday, March 14 as being when the “fun” began.

But Ames was not first in line to learn that an unnamed school district employee had been suspected of carrying the COVID-19 virus. That “honor” was bestowed on Career and Technical Education coordinator Ann Everett who oversees robotics, where the infected teacher serves as an advisor.

“She said I think you really need to talk to our superintendent,” Everett told the caller. And that’s how it all started, first word that the coronavirus was in the house, and was so-to-speak sitting on the living room sofa.

“I spoke with Dr. (Bob) Lutz a couple times,” Ames said, as he tried to get his arms wrapped around one of the many challenges that never came up in ‘Superintendent 101’ graduate classes.

“What you’re really working hard at is to get good answers to how you can talk to your community and your staffs and don’t create a panic,” Ames said.

If there was a mitigating factor it came from the fact that for the most part, school was not fully in session as it was conference week on March 12-13, Ames explained.

“We made this all common knowledge to folks so we could narrow their focus,” Ames said. The person felt symptoms and self-quarantined right away and the time being contagious was really, technically one day.

More good news is not one person out of that robotics team or others have tested positive as yet.

Not wishing to hint at the identity of the staffer, Ames said “I gave them a call.” And the conversation immediately switched. “The first thing I was asked: ‘How I was doing’ and the person apologized for putting us through this,” Ames said.

Ames said the afflicted staffer carefully retraced steps and considered all of the people that were potentially in contact and could be carriers.

“I asked what were the symptoms, how did they feel? What did it feel like?” Ames said. “And it’s typical of what you hear and you know.” It was a feeling of flu like symptoms and then fever, Ames said, emphasizing high body temperature element.

The biggest struggles the person faces have been dealing with the headaches and the fever, but things appear stable, Ames reported. The person is still not feeling well and staying away from family as well.

The idea that the district knew immediately helped staff and students take measures to prevent further spread of the bug.

“I don’t know how else we would have found out if they said ‘Oh my gosh, I don’t want anybody to know I have this,” Ames said.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].