Families were notified on Friday that there are six cases of COVID-19 among students and staff in the Pleasant Valley School District.

Superintendent Lee Lesisko said the cases came up over the Thanksgiving holiday. Four students at the high school were confirmed to be positive, two students at the intermediate school, and two staff members at the intermediate school.

As always, the school district is working closely with the Pennsylvania Department of Health to conduct contact tracing. Lesisko said that the data indicates they were infected in the community and not at school. Since the infections occurred while school was out, and the schools have been disinfected, the schools will not be closed.

Lesisko said he wants to keep all of the district’s schools open and continue the hybrid learning format for as long as possible. He knows the number of cases in the community is increasing, and that Monroe County falls into the category of substantial spread of the virus as established by the state Department of Education.

Data released by the state Department of Health on Friday shows that the positivity rate in Monroe County has increased to 16.8% for the last seven days, Nov. 27 to Dec. 3. Carbon County is now at 16.7%, Schuylkill County is at 17.9%, Lehigh County at 14.3% and Northampton County at 13.4%

“Having a student in here two times a week is better than no times a week,” he said.

Lesisko said he thinks it is important for students to experience school again and it is good for their mental and emotional health to be able to be with their friends.

“It gives them some sense of normalcy,” he said.

If the spread of the virus begins to impact overall attendance, then closing schools and moving to full remote learning is a definite possibility, he said.

The best way to prevent this from happening is for people to continue to wear face coverings, avoid large crowds, and maintain social distancing, he said. And definitely, students and staff who feel sick or have any symptoms of COVID-19 should not come to school.