St. Louis U. High finally recorded its first official case of the Covid-19 being transmitted on campus—11 months into the pandemic. According to school administration officials, one student tested positive the week of Feb. 8, and when the administration performed contact tracing, a second positive case was traced back to the first student.

The transmission between the two students occurred when they were eating lunch in a non-designated area. The students were unmasked and within six feet of one another without plexiglass shields, causing the infected student—who was asymptomatic—to transmit the virus to the healthy student.

President Alan Carruthers sees this as a reminder to stick to the guidelines the school has set forth to ensure minimum student transmission. 

“I think that this actually is a reinforcement of what we’re doing and a reminder to stay vigilant,” said Carruthers. “I know that’s really tough because we’ve been doing this all for so much longer than we had considered.”

To the administration, this unique case demonstrates how effective the protocols at SLUH are in preventing the spread of Covid-19.

“The fact that we have taken eleven months to have our first (case of on-campus spread) is a demonstration that what we're doing is working,” said Carruthers. “The fact that it occurred in a space that is a non-classroom space with people eating without their masks on … I think that says we need to follow our protocols.”

“The fact that we have taken eleven months to have our first (case of on-campus spread) is a demonstration that what we're doing is working. The fact that it occurred in a space that is a non-classroom space with people eating without their masks on … I think that says we need to follow our protocols.”

SLUH President Alan Carruthers

Director of Student Health Scott Gilbert agrees that the incident is nothing to worry about. It is just a reminder to everyone of the importance of following protocols. 

“I don’t think it’s any gigantic or gargantuan type of moment here where it’s life-changing around SLUH and and our safety protocols are no good anymore,” said Gilbert. “That’s not the case whatsoever, everything remains intact, strong as ever, and what we’ve been doing has been phenomenal.”

As he noted in his ParentConnect email sent on Sunday, Feb. 14, principal Ian Gibbons, S.J. also believes it was remarkable and impressive that SLUH was able to make it this long without having a single case spread on campus.

“Most schools had transmission very early on,” said Gibbons. “This is something that is extremely difficult to avoid with a large population moving around an inside space, especially given the population is coming from more or less 1000 different households.”

Overall, the attitude of the administration is to take this as a reminder of what the community is succeeding at and what it could improve upon. The SLUH community, students and faculty alike, have demonstrated great cooperation with Covid-19 protocols. This case underscores the fact that if people are not exercising proper caution, it can lead to viral transmission.

“It's just so easy to take off our masks or to start getting closer,” said Gibbons. “All of us are prone to do that. That's not a teenager thing, that's not a school thing, it's a human nature thing.”

The protocols for maintaining safety on campus, as have been frequently reiterated, are to wear a mask that completely covers the nose and mouth, to maintain six feet of distance from others whenever possible, to eat lunch in the designated areas, and to stay home if there is a reason one should not be on campus.

In addition to these protocols, the administration encourages all SLUH families to follow the recommendations of the CDC and refrain from gathering with people not in their households. They encourage families to use technology to connect with loved ones when possible as an alternative to in-person meetings.

“We will work with anybody on those cases,” said Gibbons. “We're not trying to make people feel bad or to take away any sense of family, friends, or social normalcies, but we have to be very careful.”

With the news that a case spread on campus, students and faculty have had similar reactions to the administration. While it might make some hesitant about the safety of SLUH’s campus, the overall message of the incident is to make sure to take safety precautions.

“I think Covid could spread much easier with everyone back at school, so I’ve felt safer staying at home,” said sophomore Nicholas George.

“What most kids at SLUH need to think about is the fact that we’re men for others,” said Spanish teacher Javier Moreno. “We’re not necessarily looking at what is going to happen to me, that shouldn’t be my first concern. My first concern should be what is going to happen to the people around me if I don’t take the proper precautions.”

While this is a unique case of a spread on campus, the current data reflects that most cases are not spreading and the SLUH community is nowhere near an outbreak. 

“I’m not concerned about it at all,” said Gilbert. “I don’t like kids getting sick, I don’t like anybody getting sick, but there’s nothing that is concerning to me right now as far as in the hallways of St. Louis University High School and Covid-19.”

“Right now our numbers are flat and we have very few students in isolation and quarantine and I think it's a testament to everyone's hard work and vigilance,” said Carruthers. “And again, when we follow our protocols and we're disciplined about it, it works.”