The parents of a high school student in Massachusetts sent him to class after he tested positive for COVID-19, prompting 28 students in close contact with the teen to quarantine for two weeks, reports The Washington Post.
Six students tested positive for the virus before Attleboro (Mass.) High School reopened Sept. 14, but only five students stayed home, Attleboro Mayor Paul Heroux told NBC affiliate WCAU.
"It was a reckless action to send a child — a teenager — to school who was COVID-positive," Mr. Heroux said. "This is bad. Parents are really angry."
The student tested positive Sept. 11, Mr. Heroux told CNN. The school became aware of the positive test result from rumors "circulating around town," Attleboro High School Principal Bill Runey told NBC News. The suspicions were reported to the city's health bureau, which "did some checking and found out that it was true," Mr. Runey said.
School nurses used contact tracing to identify and notify those who had been in close contact with the student, according to a letter to families from Superintendent David Sawyer.
Other schools across the U.S. have reported students coming to school while knowingly infected with COVID-19. In Oklahoma City, a student attended class despite testing positive because the parents thought the quarantine was only for five days when asymptomatic. As a result, 17 students had to quarantine.
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