A Greene County parent has filed a complaint at the local, regional and state levels regarding COVID-19 protocols as they pertain to the William Monroe High School football team.
Stephen Fitch filed the complaint with Gov. Ralph Northam’s office on Monday morning, after petitioning the administrators at the school and the Blue Ridge Health District (BRHD) to reconsider both the 14-day quarantine and cancellation of the football season—with no luck.
A student on the team tested positive for the novel coronavirus after the Saturday, March 20, football game.
“The two main offending agencies, the Blue Ridge Health District and the Greene County Public Schools administration, took it upon themselves to deny students who have been cleared by state-certified medical physicians of any COVID-19 concerns,” according to the complaint. “A 14-day quarantine on all students in the William Monroe football program was issued by the high school leadership and county school administration, influenced by the (health district), which is their director’s self-admission.”
Fitch said there is a recommendation from the Virginia Department of Health for shorter seven-day quarantines if the person in question has tested negative.
“The virus has caused a great deal of fear in our society,” Fitch said in the complaint. “It reminds me of the early 1980s with HIV/AIDS just being discovered, except even when we did not know the full facts of HIV like how it was transmitted, we did not go locking ourselves up or prevent our youth from continuing their education and daily lives.”