AMHERST COUNTY, Va. – The school year is on hold in Amherst County due to COVID-19.
On Thursday, Superintendent Dr. Robert Arnold announced that starting Friday, all public schools in the county will be closed through Friday, Sept. 10.
This follows the decision to close the division’s secondary schools last week due to a COVID-19 outbreak caused by a person who had tested positive entered a school building without notifying staff, according to Arnold.
[LIST: COVID-19 cases, quarantines reported in local K-12 schools]
The decision to shut down the entire school division for six days of class came after a review and analysis of results obtained from the community testing event on 8/31/2021 regarding the spread of COVID-19 in our community and schools, a determination has been made in a collaboration with the Virginia Department of Health that ACPS cannot safely operate at this time, according to a news release.
As a result of testing more than 1,800 people, almost 1,000 students, and contact tracing, the school division has determined that there are 198 active cases currently in Amherst County Public Schools and more test results are pending.
Arnold said that all of last year, there were 100 active cases.
During this closure, there will be no in-person or virtual instruction, extracurricular activities, transportation, or meals through food services.
Self-directed learning opportunities will be available to all students for the duration of the closure by accessing the ACPS website.
Watch the full news conference below: