It was much ado about nothing, but better safe than sorry.
Officials with the Colville, Wash., school district say a person in the community didn’t have the COVID-19 virus after all.
“We just received information from the Northeast Tri-County Health District confirming that the individual who was tested for COVID-19 tested negative,” says a release from the school district Friday morning.
The district closed down all schools for three days earlier this week, and cancelled extra-curricular activities and intramural sports as a precaution after a person was identified as a possible carrier of the virus. The districts’ buildings were also given deep cleanings to purge any possible virus.
Colville is a community about an hour south of Rossland, on the way to Spokane, and is a common stop for West Kootenay travellers to the Washington state city.
“While we are relieved for this individual, we will remain vigilant in our attempts to slow the spread of COVID-19,” the release continues.
The Northeast Tri County Health District reports that within Ferry, Pend Oreille, and Stevens Counties, there have been no confirmed cases and no individuals remain under investigation.
“We want to again say thank you for your patience as we worked through this issue,” says the school district. “We took the necessary precautionary measures to ensure that students, staff and our community remained as safe and healthy as possible.”