3 Valley high schools closed for the remainder of the week due to COVID-19

Three Valley high schools will remain closed to in-class learning for the remainder of the week due to coronavirus concerns.

The Mat-Su Borough School District announced Monday night that Colony High, Wasilla High and Mat-Su Career and Technical High School will be closed through Friday. Those schools were closed on Monday and were originally scheduled to be also closed Tuesday. Three other schools — Big Lake Elementary, Houston Jr./Sr. High and Fronteras Charter — were closed early on Monday and remained closed on Tuesday. Sherrod Elementary and Mat-Su Central were also closed Monday and closed Tuesday.

The Mat-Su Borough is currently categorized at the ‘high risk’ level according to the state of Alaska, with 177 positive COVID-19 cases within the last 14 days. There were 60 new cases in the borough reported Friday through Monday.

“As cases are rapidly rising in the Mat-Su Borough, the schools in the Mat-Su are seeing an increase in short-term school building closures” Alaska Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink said in a press release issued by the school district. “Let’s all work together to keep our kids in school, and step up our collective prevention efforts. COVID is highly contagious and spreading quickly. It is time to limit your in-person interactions with others outside of your household. Avoid the 3 C’s (avoid closed spaces, crowded places and close contact situations) and do the 3 W’s (wear a mask, wash your hands and watch your space). These preventive measures are done best when they are done together. It is also important to get tested at the start of any new onset of symptoms. With vaccine development well underway and new treatment options, there is light at the end of the tunnel but as winter comes and cases climb, we need to step up our efforts to prevent deaths, hospitalizations and keep Alaska’s kids learning and growing to the best of our abilities.”

Colony High had positive cases reported on Oct. 7, Oct. 15 and Oct. 16. Mat-Su Career Tech had positive cases on Oct. 14 and Oct. 16. Another case was reported at Wasilla High on Oct. 17.

There are now 18 Valley schools, as of Monday night, that are considered medium risk, which the district describes as low to moderate level of community transmission. A 19th school, Redington Jr./Sr. High, had a positive case reported on Oct. 14, but is listed on the district’s website in the low risk category.

Contact Frontiersman managing editor Jeremiah Bartz at editor@frontiersman.com.