More than 300 students in El Dorado district quarantined, with over 200 at one high school

More than 200 El Dorado Hills students at Oak Ridge High School are in quarantine after possibly being exposed to COVID-19.

The quarantines come after 19 students recently tested positive for the virus at the school, according to the El Dorado Union High School District’s dashboard.

There are currently more than 300 students across the district’s five high schools who are now quarantined, and a total of 24 current positive cases, according to the dashboard.

Students are required to stay home, according to county and state guidelines, if they have been exposed to others who have COVID-19.

According to the district, 215 out of the school’s 2,400 students are now home. There are currently no plans to place the entire student body in distance learning.

District officials said the rise in cases are attributed to an increase in COVID-19 testing for athletes.

“We have seen a recent increase in the number of students who have tested positive for COVID-19 since we have increased our asymptomatic surveillance testing for athletic participation,” read a statement from district spokeswoman Serena Fuson. “We are concerned that many of the asymptomatic cases are due to exposure that has happened in the previous weeks and months as many students do not have any symptoms.”

Fuson added that the PCR tests are unable to distinguish between an active COVID-19 cases and one that took place months ago.