Several high school teams across Elk County’s four schools — Johnsonburg, Ridgway, St. Marys and Elk County Catholic — have been impacted by the spread of COVID-19 in Elk County.
On Tuesday evening, the Ridgway Area School District announced via a press release that a student-athlete on its football team, which is a cooperative program with Johnsonburg, tested positive for the coronavirus and reported that symptoms began on Oct. 19.
Contact tracing for that individual was initiated to go back to Oct. 17, and Ridgway notified Johnsonburg of the case. As a result, all members of the Ridgway/Johnsonburg football team were placed into quarantine, including players, coaches and students in close contact with that player during the school day.
In addition, the district notified Brookville’s school district, as the Elkers had just faced the Raiders last Friday in the District 9 Class AA semifinals. Brookville is set to face Karns City Friday night at Brockway for the D9 Class AA championship.
In addition to that positive case at Ridgway, other schools in Elk County are suspending athletic activities to varying extents.
St. Marys opted to postpone its winter sports practices, though no official start date was included in the release.
Across town at Elk County Catholic, all “nonessential activities,” including sports, are suspended for the remainder of this week, except for teams which are competing in district or state championship tournaments. As a result, ECC’s volleyball match with Ridgway set for Tuesday was canceled, as well as the Crusaders’ remaining two football games. Decisions on resuming nonessential activities, such as sports, will be made on a week-to-week basis, according to an email from athletic director Aaron Straub.
Finally, at Johnsonburg, the high school is opting to go to virtual learning effective today until Nov. 3. Fall sports that the school would host are canceled. D9and10sports.com reported Tuesday that the Ramettes volleyball team has withdrawn from the postseason. Jburg was set to host Oswayo Valley Tuesday night.
