Loudoun Magnet School Staffer Tests Positive For Coronavirus

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA — A staff member at the Academies of Loudoun, a magnet school for Loudoun County high school students, tested positive for the coronavirus, or COVID-19, according to the Loudoun County Public Schools system. The staff member is recovering at home.

The Academies of Loudoun staff member lives in an undisclosed neighboring county where the local health department is conducting a contact investigation. The neighboring county’s health department is in the process of calling each individual identified as having had close contact with the staff member who tested positive, Loudoun County schools said Tuesday.

Six Loudoun County Public Schools staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus. Along with the Academies of Loudoun staffer, three members of Waxpool Elementary School in Ashburn, including its principal, have tested positive.

A staff member at Moorefield Station Elementary School in Ashburn also tested positive. Another staff member who is associated with both Liberty Elementary School in South Riding and Pinebrook Elementary School in Aldie has tested positive.

Loudoun County Public Schools Superintendent Eric Williams said Tuesday that recommended social distancing measures were being followed when the staff member was last in the Academies of Loudoun building. "There is no concern for student exposure," Williams said in a message to the school community. "No students were recently working with this staff member as LCPS schools were closed at the time."

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Academies of Loudoun is located southwest of downtown Leesburg, between Sycolin Road and Gulick Mill Road.

The Loudoun County Health Department said it is not able to provide any additional information about the staff member or their contacts. The health department said that people who have had close contact with someone known to have tested positive for the coronavirus may take up to 14 days to become ill, although they will generally become symptomatic around six days after the contact.

Williams has ordered the Academies of Loudoun school building closed to all students, employees, contractors and the public until further notice. The Academies of Loudoun has been cleaned and disinfected after the staff member was in the building, he added.

Cases of the coronavirus continue to rise in Virginia. The Virginia Department of Health on Tuesday reported 290 cases of COVID-19 and seven deaths. The seventh death was reported in Virginia Beach. Loudoun County has reported 18 positive cases of the coronavirus and no deaths.

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