Three weeks removed from St. Louis U. High’s full return on Jan. 11, SLUH leaders continue to be confident in their measures taken to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 on campus. As of press time yesterday, the school had just five active cases and 62 quarantines. 

One concern regarding the return to full-time classes this semester was that it would cause a rise in cases and quarantine numbers within the SLUH community. However, there are currently only five active students in isolation because of positive tests (with most of them set to return by early February), and there have been only six positive cases in total since the return on Jan. 11—including some carrying over from the end of winter break. Positive tests have been coming in at a very low rate despite having full in-person attendance, and the cases are a far cry from the spike that SLUH saw back in November. 

“Our numbers are very good right now, but we did, and have seen some pops in quarantines because of the three feet,” said Carruthers, referring from the change from six to three feet of distance between students in classes. “We go from a very small number of quarantines associated with each positive case to, you know, 15 to 45 with each particular case which, very rapidly, could be problematic for keeping everyone in teachers and students alike.”

“I have no doubt that our families and our students are deeply committed to being back,” said principal Ian Gibbons, S.J. “That commitment has paid dividends so far, and has allowed for a successful return.” 

“I have no doubt that our families and our students are deeply committed to being back. That commitment has paid dividends so far, and has allowed for a successful return.”

Principal Ian Gibbons, SJ

In addition to having a low number of cases overall, none of the positive tests have produced any evidence of spread occurring on campus. 

“If we start to see another case in this class, and another case on the sports team, that’s where it gets concerning,” Gilbert. “But that’s just something we have not seen, and the doctors that we consult agree that when we have positive cases they’re coming from outside the school.” 

Gilbert has been at the center of the Covid-19 response, fielding phone calls and emails to trace back to where positive cases originated or informing parents when their son needs to go into quarantine. The cases and quarantine data are then all stored in a master spreadsheet which keeps track of positive tests, quarantines, and release dates for both students and the faculty and staff.

Although isolation due to positive tests has been down, the full return and its three-foot distancing measures have brought more quarantines overall. The “worst case scenario” according to Gilbert would be 25 to 30 quarantines created by a single case. Of the 62 quarantines, 13 were caused by cases not relating to SLUH. The rest relate to the 5 active cases. Of those five active cases, only four necessitated quarantines. One required 19 quarantines, another case 18 quarantines, and the other two created 11 quarantines each. 

 “It certainly bears some pain for our community, having to be in quarantine while the results of tests are coming in,” said Gibbons. “I was calling some families at like 9:30 on Saturday night, which is not a great call when you have to hear your son has to go into quarantine.” 

While the increase in quarantines isn’t fun for those who are having to stay isolated off-campus, it was an expected cost of the full return.

“On the administrative side of this we have all acknowledged, even before the holidays, that when we came back at three feet (distance) in the classroom, that there are going to be instances where more kids are going to be pulled out of the classroom and put into quarantine,” said Gilbert. “Communication I think was key … just making everybody understand that part.”

One of the largest complexities created by the full return was the quarantines for athletes.

“It (being full capacity) has certainly created some complexities,” said Carruthers. “With athletic testing and quarantines while awaiting test results, it is a very challenging logistical reality that impacts current athletes. We're certainly still trying to figure out how that's going to work with spring sports, which have a much larger population of athletes, so that's still a question mark that hasn't been fully resolved.”

Another question mark is vaccines. According to data compiled by the New York Times from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Missouri ranked last in the rate of distribution for the initial vaccine doses. These difficulties have challenged administrators like Carruthers who look to get vaccines for their faculty.  

“By and large I think most people have been very responsible and understand that this is a collective effort, we just have to keep it up until we get enough vaccines distributed,” said Carruthers. “We of course are communicating with health systems and the St. Louis Department of Health, and we're trying to get our faculty and staff vaccinated as soon as possible. They are in Tier One B, but … vaccine distribution in the state of Missouri is lagging behind some other parts of the country, so we have some challenges there.”

Even with the complexities, Carruthers believes that it has been well worth it and is encouraged by declining numbers within the metro area and precautions taken by students. 

“I think we can all agree that it's been wonderful to be back and see each other in the hallways and classrooms every day and be with our peers,” said Carruthers. “That's wonderful; it just does create issues when there are positives (cases). Fortunately, the numbers in the city are declining and are in good shape right now and right now in the school itself. We're very low so I hope people continue to be responsible.” 

Carruthers stresses that now is not the time to let up on precautions to stop the spread of Covid-19.

“It is a collective responsibility to maintain our in school reality,” said Carruthers. “Symptoms … even if they're minor, should not be ignored. Many of the young men are expressing allergy-like runny noses, low grade soreness, etcetera; those are symptoms. If there are any symptoms present,  they need to honestly report them on their pre-screen or simply not come to school, call in, take the virtual option until they get a test result back and know whether they're positive or negative, because the cost is so big for a much larger group than just oneself at this point.”

“Symptoms … even if they're minor, should not be ignored. Many of the young men are expressing allergy-like runny noses, low grade soreness, etcetera; those are symptoms. If there are any symptoms present,  they need to honestly report them on their pre-screen or simply not come to school, call in, take the virtual option until they get a test result back and know whether they're positive or negative, because the cost is so big for a much larger group than just oneself at this point.”

President Alan Carruthers

Overall, though, Carruthers and Gilbert have been happy with how careful members of the SLUH community have been and how healthy the overall population has been. 

“I'm so grateful to all the parents and students,” said Carruthers. “Our mask wearing has been great. I think the guys in the various different lunch locations have done a great job trying to maintain that six feet. I think our teachers are doing a great job and showed a tremendous amount of hard work to keep the system going. We still have some kids in virtual and running those two systems is much more laborious and they've done a tremendous job. EVS, maintenance folks, support staff continue to do a great job … and as a school we're quite healthy.” 

“I didn’t study pandemics,” said Gibbons, “It’s not a thing I ever thought I’d need to be an expert in. But 2020 made us experts.” 

“I'm really impressed with how the students are handling this, I'm really impressed with their ability to distance, I'm impressed with their mask wearing for the most part,” said Gilbert. “I think it's a tough thing to do, and to ask if you know a teenager and even kids younger than that but they're doing a phenomenal job.”