Hendricks County elementary school student has positive COVID-19 test, school district says

A student at Hickory Elementary School in the Avon Community School Corp. has tested positive for COVID-19, the school district reported late Sunday night.

The district said on its website that it had been informed of the positive test by the Hendricks County Health Department. As a result of the positive test, all schools in the district will have an e-learning day on Monday. In addition, Hickory Elementary School will be closed for two weeks, which will be followed by the district’s regularly scheduled two-week spring break. School is set to resume April 6.

This is the third reported positive test for COVID-19 in Indiana, and the second in Hendricks County. Earlier on Sunday, Indiana health officials said a man from that county who had traveled to Boston in late February to attend the BioGen conference had tested positive. The man developed mild flu-like symptoms on March 2.

The patient is not hospitalized, officials said, but they did not disclose where or when the individual was tested. It was not immediately clear whether there is a connection between that man and the Hickory Elementary student.

More than a dozen COVID-19 cases nationwide have been tied to the BioGen conference, including a Marion County resident who was identified Friday as Indiana’s first COVID-19 case. That patient remains in self-isolation with mild symptoms.

Meanwhile, Noblesville Schools officials announced Sunday that “a parent has been directed to self-quarantine after attending an out-of-state event where another individual has tested positive for COVID-19.” The district did not identify the event.

The district said the parent’s children also are being self-quarantined out of an abundance of caution.

“While the parent arrived home late last week, with very minimal risk for exposure during the school week, the family did attend baseball and swim events at NHS this weekend before they were aware of their need to self-quarantine,” the district said in a statement.

“Therefore, anyone in attendance at those events should be extra vigilant in watching for COVID-19 symptoms (fever, cough, shortness of breath).”