A Chicago school assistant who works with “medically fragile” special needs students has tested positive for the new coronavirus Friday after recently traveling on the contaminated Grand Princess cruise ship.
The patient, a woman in her 50s, had “intimate” and “hands-on” contact with numerous kids at the Vaughn Occupational High School for special needs students in Chicago, creating an “all-hands-on-deck” emergency at the school, a CBS affiliate reported.
Chicago school and health department officials “have already begun an extensive outreach effort for every student, employee and family in this school community to inform them of the confirmed case,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a statement.
The woman had disembarked from the Grand Princess ship in San Fransisco on Friday, Feb. 21 before returning to work at the public school on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
She eventually stayed home when she started exhibiting symptoms and had positive test results for the COVID-19 returned Friday, according to Lightfoot. It was not immediately clear how many days she spent at work.
The school will be closed next week “out of an abundance of caution,” the mayor’s office said, while the assistant is hospitalized and in stable condition.
Princess Cruises first announced there had been coronavirus cases associated with the Grand Princess on March 4, with more than 20 cases from the vessel confirmed since as it sits off the coast of San Fransisco.