2nd COVID-19 Outbreak Reported At Mokena D159: Officials

MOKENA, IL — Mokena Intermediate School was listed as a source of a COVID-19 outbreak, according to the latest data posted Friday on the Illinois Department of Public Health's website. This is the second time a District 159 school has been placed on the outbreak list since classes started Aug. 18.

Patch has reached out to Mokena D159 Superintendent Mark Cohen multiple times for comment since a Patch reader first reported the outbreak on Patch's website Sept. 9. Cohen has not returned any of the requests for comment over the eight days.

According to the information provided to Patch by the reader, MIS Principal David McAtee sent a notification Sept. 9 to parents of children at the school alerting them of four confirmed COVID-19 cases. The notification stated that a quarantine was to begin Sept. 10, per Will County Health Department guidance, and that students would be allowed back in the classroom Sept. 23 as long as individual students are symptom free at that time.

Patch also reached out to McAtee for confirmation of that notification, but received no response.

The Illinois Department of Public Health defines an outbreak as two or more COVID-19 cases among people from different households who may have had a shared exposure, such as at school.

A COVID-19 outbreak was reported at Mokena Elementary School Sept. 2. That outbreak also resulted in a first-grade class there being placed under quarantine.

As of Monday, the District has reported 45 total positive COVID-19 cases for students and 74 students currently under quarantine across the District's three schools: Mokena Elementary School, Mokena Intermediate School and Mokena Junior High School. The District updates its COVID-19 data weekly.

The outbreak at MIS was not reported in the last week's IDPH data for schools, as "Outbreak information is reported once the outbreak investigation is considered complete," according to the IDPH website.

For more news and information like this, subscribe to the Mokena Patch for free. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here. Don't forget to like us on Facebook!