By Eileen Persike
Editor

All students, staff and visitors at Pelican Elementary School in Rhinelander are required to wear face masks through Nov. 23. Superintendent Eric Burke notified families Thursday that positive COVID cases have been steadily rising at Pelican, and after consulting with the SDR nursing team, decided to require masks. Since the beginning of the current school year, masks have been optional/

Burke stated the situation would be evaluated Nov. 23 to determine how to proceed.

“Our goal is to continue in-person learning five days a week and we believe it is important to use the required masking strategy at this time,” Burke stated. “We will have masks available for all students and staff at Pelican Elementary School. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.”

In his Monday update Nov. 8, Burke reported four cases among students at Pelican, and 23 cases (all students) district wide. Today the district website’s COVID-19 dashboard shows district-wide 27 active cases among students and four active cases among staff. 

Three of those staff and five students with active cases are at Pelican.

According to the Oneida County Health Department transmission remains high, with 166 new cases reported county wide from Nov. 4 to Nov. 10. On Nov. 8 the county reported two new deaths associated with COVID-19.