The Tamaqua Area School District reported two COVID-19 cases earlier this week.

According to the district’s COVID tracker on its website, one case was a high school student and the other was a middle school student. Six additional individuals had to quarantine because of the middle school case.

The tracker lists a “14-day active” column, where there is currently only one active case. Superintendent Ray Kinder explained more.

“The 14-day window, everybody in the state has,” Kinder said.

“If you have a specific number of contractible or exposure cases in your individual building, it could lead possibly to a temporary closure if it were to happen.”

A chart on the PDE website displays recommendations based on number of active cases during a 14-day rolling period, enrollment size of the building and the level of current community transmission.

There are no recommendations on any of the PDE’s charts which suggests for a school to close permanently, but instead, to potentially close for up to two weeks at most, or to alter the schedule to “significantly decrease number of students on site” if a district has a specific amount of active cases during a two-week period.

The TASD reported eight cases since the new year, but only six additional individuals were forced to quarantine.

There have been 20 cases since Dec. 20, according to the tracker and seven total additional individuals forced to quarantine.