Less than a week before the new school year starts, the superintendent of the Bowling Green Independent School District, Gary Fields, has tested positive for COVID-19.
"On Friday, when I spoke to the Board of Education about returning to school, I said a reality of the current time is that positive cases of COVID-19 will occur and there will be times when students and staff are isolated or quarantined," Fields wrote in a Facebook post. "At the time of that statement, I did not realize how close that reality would be for me."
In a statement, Fields said he had an anti-body test on Thursday morning as a free service offered to all school district employees. That afternoon, Fields was told he tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies, but there wasn’t a need for him to isolate unless he developed symptoms. He then received a nasal swab test, and on Monday evening, Fields says he learned the second test was positive.
Although he still has no symptoms, he will remain quarantined at home until Sunday. Fields says all of his family members have tested negative for the virus and no district employees are considered at-risk.
Although he’s unable to be in schools this week, Fields plans to return for the first day of classes on Monday.
