21 infected with COVID-19 after high school graduation and prom, Missouri school says
A high school graduation and prom led to 21 cases of COVID-19 in Missouri, officials say.
St. Dominic High School in O’Fallon, a St. Louis suburb, announced Monday that 19 students and two guests tested positive for the coronavirus after the events. The Catholic high school hosted the graduation ceremony on July 8 and the prom on July 10.
Those who tested positive began experiencing symptoms after the prom, school officials say.
“Upon learning of the first positive case, we informed all families with students who attended either event, and have encouraged them to follow the guidance recommended by local health officials and the CDC, including monitoring their children for any symptoms of COVID-19,” according to a news release.
The graduation was held outdoors. The school did not specify the location of the prom, saying only it was held “offsite.”
School President Jim Welby tweeted photos of the outdoor graduation venue in the football stadium.
A Facebook Live broadcast of the graduation embedded in a KSDK news story no longer appears online.
The school, which is among the largest Catholic high schools in the St. Louis area, has canceled a slate of summer activities.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson wants schools to reopen this fall and acknowledged that students will likely be infected with the coronavirus, The Kansas City Star reported.
“These kids gotta get back to school,” Parson said in an interview with St. Louis radio host Marc Cox. “They’re at the lowest risk possible and if they do get COVID-19 — which they will, and they will when they go to school — they’re not going to the hospitals, they’re not going to have to sit in doctors’ offices. They’re going to go home, and they’re gonna get over it, and most of it all proves out to be that way if you look at the science of it.”
This story was originally published July 20, 2020 at 7:31 PM with the headline "21 infected with COVID-19 after high school graduation and prom, Missouri school says."