A California school district said two parents knowingly sent their COVID-positive child to class

• Two parents knowingly sent their COVID-19 positive kid to class, California school officials said.
• The kid attended class for seven days after testing positive for the virus. 
• Officials said 75 students had been exposed to the virus and had to quarantine.

Two parents knowingly sent their COVID-positive kid to elementary school, according to California school district officials, forcing dozens of students to quarantine due to possible contamination. 

The child continued to attend class at Neil Cummins Elementary School for more than a week after testing positive, ABC7 reported. 

“We learned that that student was never reported to us, and that that student had been attending school for the last seven days,” school superintendent Dr. Brett Geithman said.

Geithman told ABC7 that the school only learned the kid had tested positive when a representative from the Marin County Health and Human Services Department called to ask why the school hadn’t documented the student’s infection.

“In terms of an explanation of why they chose to continue to send their children to school, their initial explanation was that they were uncertain of the COVID protocols,” Geithman said.

After learning of the infection, Geithman said all parents were instructed to bring their kids to the school gym for a COVID-19 test. Seventy-students had been exposed to the virus after the parents allowed their COVID-positive kid to go to school, officials said. Eight students tested positive, ABC7 reported. 

“Thankfully, this is the only known occurrence of a household knowingly sending a COVID-19 positive student to school,” the Marin County Public Health Department said in a statement. 

The parents might face a fine for violating Marin County’s health order that says anyone who receives a positive COVID-19 test must isolate, the Associated Press reported. 

“It’s a violation of the law that we’ve put in place,” Dr. Matt Willis, the county’s public health officer, told the AP.  “More importantly it’s also a violation of just basic ethics of community responsibility.”

A decision over whether the parents will be fined or face a misdemeanor charge will come by early next week, Willis said.