School districts alert parents after two separate scares

ORANGE COUNTY, Texas — Little Cypress-Mauriceville and West Orange-Cove CISD officials alerted parents about two possible exposures to the Coronavirus.

A district official tells 12News that the two cases are related.

LC-M CISD says a student at Little Cyprus Intermediate may have been exposed to the deadly virus, the school district alerted parents on their Facebook page.

"We took immediate action, contacted the parent and removed the child from campus, strictly as a precautionary measure," the Facebook post said.

LC-M CISD officials said in the Facebook post that there was "no exposure nor threat to our students and staff."

The district says they have received the all-clear from local health officials.

"During our investigation, we communicated with local and state health departments, the Texas Education Agency and local law enforcement," LCM CISD officials said in the Facebook post.

The district says they were made aware of the potential exposure on February 26. It's unclear if the child was tested for the virus or if the child was ever placed in isolation.

West Orange-Cove superintendent Dr. Rickie Harris said in a news release that an employee with the district may have also been exposed to the Coronavirus.

"We took immediate action and removed the person from the campus strictly as a precautionary measure," Dr. Harris said.

Dr. Harris went on to say that the district has also received the all-clear from the local health department.

"The Orange County Superintendents met to discuss processes and procedures in the event of actual exposure to our students. Additionally, we participate in a weekly statewide operations Coronavirus update with the Department of State Health Services," Dr. Harris said.

Dawn Martin, director of communications with West Orange-Cove CISD, says that the student at LC-M and the teacher's aide at West Orange-Cove were not symptomatic.

Martin says the teacher's aide will return to class at the North Early Learning Center on Thursday.

The Tekoa Academy announced Wednesday that it will be canceling classes for students on Thursday as a preventative measure.

No cases of possible exposure to coronavirus have been reported at any campus.

Each campus will be cleaned thoroughly and classes will resume Friday.

Earlier this month, a Beaumont attorney tested negative for the Coronavirus. Mark Sparks said he returned to Southeast Texas after a trip to Beijing and started feeling ill.

He had a fever and shortness or breath and went to Baptist Hospital as a precaution.

He stayed in one of the negative pressure isolation rooms for about four days, while he waited for his test results.

"I'm very satisfied with what Baptist did. I'm so very grateful and yes, I think the community is very prepared for something like this, particularly now that we've had the dry run," said Sparks.

Currently there have been no confirmed cases of coronavirus in Beaumont. Local health officials across Southeast Texas are preparing for potential cases.

The CDC says it's a matter of 'when' not 'if' cases show up across the country.