Elmhurst's IC Catholic Sees First Virus Case

ELMHURST, IL — IC Catholic Prep in Elmhurst has seen its first coronavirus case, with a student testing positive late last week, the school's spokesman said Tuesday.

In an interview, spokesman David Terry said the school is conducting contact tracing to identify those who were close to the student. He said the school has been adhering to government health guidelines.

Terry also said the school has been fortunate not to have had any cases until last week. This has been the situation despite the fact that it opened Aug. 19, nearly two months ago.

That was weeks before any Elmhurst School District 205 students started arriving for in-person learning. Just last week, the district completed the process of phasing in in-person lessons for all grades. According to the district, 46 students and nine employees have tested positive since the beginning of the school year.

Meanwhile, Elmhurst as a whole has seen a surge in new coronavirus cases. The number has more than doubled since the beginning of August, to 1,034 as of Monday.

Terry said IC Catholic plans to continue its in-person learning, unless things "drastically" change.

Just like the Elmhurst schools, IC Catholic opened with a blended approach of in-person and remote learning. It draws student from Elmhurst and other suburbs.