Two days into the start of a new school year, one student has tested positive for COVID-19, prompting quarantines.

Superintendent Emily Tracy and Corporation Nurse Holly Gordon sent out a message to parents this afternoon about the positive COVID test, which was from a student at Helmsburg Elementary.

Close contacts of that student were identified and those students’ families were notified. Per district policy, close-contact students will have to quarantine for 14 days.

The case at Helmsburg did not prompt a status change for any Brown County school. Schools are operating on green, yellow or red status as they did last year, with the colors pointing to different methods of instruction: all in-person, half-in person/half remote, or all remote, depending on levels of symptom activity, positive cases or exposures in each building. All BCS schools will be on green tomorrow, the parent message said.

Elementary open houses took place Monday night and classes started Wednesday. Most students and parents were not wearing masks at Helmsburg’s open house.

BCS’s official policy is that masks are encouraged for anyone who has not been vaccinated against COVID-19 and are optional for those who are fully vaccinated.

Children under 12 are not yet eligible for COVID-19 vaccines, making their protection dependent on the health and behavior of the people around them.