A Hillsboro middle school student tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Saturday, but state public health officials said Sunday that closing schools, colleges and universities across Oregon should be the last resort.

The student attends South Meadows Middle School and is now at home in self-isolation, said Mike Scott, superintendent of the Hillsboro School District. He said officials are working to determine if other students came in contact with the student. They did not say if the student came into contact with any adults in the school, or if any adults have exhibited symptoms.

The student was present at school on Tuesday with mild symptoms, the school district told students, families and staff on Sunday.

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The school is being deep cleaned Sunday evening and will be open Monday.

“Our first concern is for the student,” said Scott. “When symptom free, that student will be welcomed back.”

The student, not identified by age, sex or grade, attended school for one day last week, said Dr. Christina Baumann, Washington County Health Officer.

She said the student had “very mild symptoms,” and stayed home. Tests showed the student did have Covid-19, she said. Late Saturday night, school officials were notified the student attended Spring Meadows.

“We confirmed that this morning,” Scott said. “We began a deep clean at the school. The school environment is safe. But I can tell you that people are concerned.”

Scott said he expected teachers would be having conversations Monday with students about the virus.

“We encourage students to come to school,” Scott said. “We believe every day matters.”

The United Nations has reported that the spread of the virus has caused school closures in thirteen countries, disrupting the education of 290.5 million students globally, a figure the agency described as “without precedent.”

A story in The Atlantic magazine explores what will happen if schools in the United States close for days, weeks or months: “After two weeks away from school, kids in the United States would be considerably behind schedule in their learning curricula—and many parents in the U.S. would be acutely inconvenienced without the daily meal service and child care that school inherently provides.”

Meanwhile, the Oregon Health Authority and officials with the Oregon Department of Education on Sunday recommended against closing schools, noting that closing public schools disproportionately affects families struggling to make ends meet and has negative impacts to groups facing inequities.

That decision was met with support from Kristi Dille, president of Oregon PTA. In a prepared statement, she said the “strong signal” to keep schools open allows the “needs of student and families” to be met.

Oregon Department of Education Director Colt Gill “keeping schools open is the best option for our state and, most importantly, for our students.”

The guidance issued Sunday advised schools, colleges and universities to “consider all alternatives before closing a school” if the virus is detected among any in a school’s community.

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Pat Allen, director of Oregon Health Authority, said the guidance issued Sunday could be reevaluated if it’s determined the virus has a “significant impact” on young people. Right now, it seems to have a greater impact on elderly and those with compromised systems, he said, not the young.

Officials said administrators can preach to students the necessary safety precautions to reduce the risk of the virus and “protect students from lost instructional time”, noting that “schools provide many students their only ready access to health care and food.”

They noted more than 22,000 Oregon students “experienced some form of homelessness in 2019.”

Under existing guidelines, students, teachers and other staff members will be “subject to self-isolation to prevent others from becoming infected.”

Sunday’s statement said schools should consider increasing the frequency of handwashing, cleaning high-traffic areas and going so far as to stagger recess and lunch periods to reduce the number of students who are “coming into close contact with each other.”

Sunday’s recommendation represents “a reasonable and thoughtful approach given the information that is available at this time,” said David Bangsberg, a physician and dean of the OHSU-PSU School.

Earlier in the day, Gov. Kate Brown declared an emergency after announcing seven new cases of COVID-19 in Oregon, bringing the state’s total to 14.

State officials are continuing to monitor data nationally and internationally, said Dr. Dana Hargunani, chief medical officer for the Oregon Health Authority. She said Sunday she expects the number of cases in Oregon to “ramp up” as the virus is present in the community.

-- Tom Hallman Jr; thallman@oregonian.com; 503-221-8224; @thallmanjr

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