36 students positive for COVID-19 after high school sports camps, Illinois officials say

Dozens of high school students have tested positive for the coronavirus after attending summer sports camps, Illinois health officials said this week.

The first day of Lake Zurich High School’s athletic camps was on July 6, officials said in a news release. During health screenings at the beginning of camp, several students showed COVID-19 symptoms and were turned away.

As the day wore on, multiple students developed symptoms and were also sent home, officials said.

On July 7, the Lake County Health Department and Illinois Department of Public Health decided to close the camps. Since then, 36 students have tested positive for COVID-19, officials said.

“We are grateful to the leadership of Lake Zurich District 95 for assuring proper health screenings were done at their athletic camps last week, because those measures helped identify this cluster of COVID-19 cases,” Dr. Sana Ahmed, epidemiologist at Lake County Health Department, said in the release.

Contact tracing efforts are still underway and officials said they’ve identified several social gatherings where students may have been exposed to the virus prior to the camps.

“We’re hearing a lot of young people report that they had social gatherings. They’ve been hanging out with their friends. They’ve been going to slumber parties,” health department communications manager, Hanna Goering, told WLS.

Anyone who participated in the athletic camps is advised to self-quarantine for at least 14 days, officials said.

The health department also set up a mobile testing site at the high school on July 12, where more than 355 people were tested. The testing site will open again July 19 for Lake Zurich High School students and staff, according to officials, but those already experiencing symptoms are advised to not wait to get tested.

“Our message to young people is that while you might not be at high risk of getting severely ill from COVID-19, you’re not immune,” Goering said, according to WLS.

This story was originally published July 15, 2020 at 8:23 AM with the headline "36 students positive for COVID-19 after high school sports camps, Illinois officials say."