24 OPRF Students With Coronavirus Causes 'Deep Concern'

OAK PARK, IL — In a Thursday letter to Oak Park River Forest High School staff, students and families, Superintendent Dr. Joylynn Pruitt-Adams expressed deep concern about the number of OPRF students testing positive for the coronavirus, after the Oak Park Department of Public Health (OPDPH) let school officials know that 24 students tested positive between from Aug. 15 through Tuesday. Pruitt-Adams said that while the OPDPH cannot share the identities of those who've tested positive, several of those positive cases are believed to be linked to a recent get together.

"We have received information from both parents and students that a large indoor gathering of students recently was held at a local home, where mask-wearing and social-distancing were not observed," Pruitt-Adams stated in the letter. "A significant number of positive cases are believed to have resulted from that event."

In the letter, Pruitt-Adams said only by working together as a community is how the spread of the coronavirus will be halted.

"Students, I implore you: Please stop engaging in risky behaviors," Pruitt-Adams added. "They put not just you and your families but our entire community at risk."

The superintendent also stressed the importance of cooperating with OPDPH guidelines, including social distancing and wearing face coverings while out publicly, self-quarantining whether symptomatic or not, and participating in contact-tracing.

"I understand that sharing information about unsafe behavior may be uncomfortable and embarrassing," Pruitt Adams said. "But providing details about whom an exposed person has been with, for how long, where they were, etc., is essential to stopping the spread of COVID-19."

>> More information about testing and quarantining

A post of the the superintendent's letter on the OPRF Facebook page garnered several comments, including questions about the school's athletics.

"I’d like to know what the athletic director is doing," Facebook user Matthew Clifford wrote. "If COVID isn’t inventive to act responsibly, maybe suspending sports or kicking kids off teams for bad behavior will be motivating!"

In a statement, the school responded, "The health department does not share the identity of positive cases with the school, only the number of cases. Please know that all of our coaches and teams are adhering to the IHSA and IDPH guidance for face coverings during activities. Per IHSA guidance, while they are outdoors and engaged in strenuous activity, athletes may remove their face coverings as long as they are practicing social distancing. When they are not engaged in strenuous activity they must wear their face covering at all times. Our swimmers, for instance, keep their masks in baggies on the pool deck and wear them prior to entering and upon exiting the pool."

The school also stated that any "informal activities" people may see happening at the Ridgeland Common field aren't school-sanctioned activities, and added that they need parents to help ensuring that "our youth are following all health and safety guidance from the CDC and IDPH!"

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