COVID-19 spike at Hersey causes dozens to quarantine

Officials from Northwest Suburban High School District 214 confirmed Tuesday that 13 Hersey High School students have tested positive for COVID-19, while another 155 are in mandated quarantine because they had close contact with an infected person.

Close contact means anyone who has been within 6 feet of an infected person, with or without a mask, for a cumulative 15 or more minutes over a 48-hour period, officials said.

District officials said the cases at the Arlington Heights school are not considered an "outbreak" because many of them are not "epidemiologically linked." District spokesman Dave Beery said the Cook County Department of Public Health considers five or more cases that can be linked to be an outbreak.

Based on conversations with the infected students, district officials believe the transmissions occurred outside school, Beery said.

A Daily Herald report Monday indicated many new transmissions of the virus are linked to school sporting events.

Lake County had three school outbreaks, higher than suburban Cook, DuPage, McHenry and Will counties between mid-March and April 16. Kane County had none, according to the report.