SARANAC LAKE — Saranac Lake School District Superintendent Diane Fox said a rumor that two cafeteria staff members have contracted COVID-19 is not true.

Fox said two staff members have been in quarantine for the past two weeks, after concerns they may have caught the coronavirus, but neither have symptoms and after contacting the health department they will be leaving quarantine.

The school has been delivering meals to around 200 kids in its district, expanding its usual Summer Youth Program meal program to help families during the coronavirus pandemic.

Fox said one staff member’s husband had a co-worker who was worried about having the coronavirus, so they chose to quarantine, and the other has a family member who was diagnosed with COVID-19 and chose to self-quarantine.

She said they’ve both been isolated for 14 days and are now back at work.

“Their quarantine is up,” Fox said.

She said the rotating crew of six volunteers and a handful of drivers who prepare and deliver the meals have their temperature taken by the school nurse every morning before work. They enter one at a time through different doors to get checked before work. Fox said if a volunteer was found to have COVID-19 the cafeteria would be shut down for a day and go through a “deep cleaning.”

“We would follow any guidelines that the health department would put out,” Fox said.

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Lake Placid

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The Lake Placid School District also is taking precautions with its meal program, checking for symptoms and not having anyone showing symptoms of the virus participate in food preperation or delivery.

“We’re taking all of that really seriously,” Supeintendent Roger Catania said. “We’re encouraging social distancing in food preparation and delivery. We’re encouraging hand washing and using sanitizer.”

Catania said the school has received donations to support its food program — including thousands of dollars in produce from restaurants and purchased food or supermarket gift cards.

“The generosity of our community is overwhelming,” Catania said. “We’ve been able to rely on staff and haven’t needed to take advantage of those offers (for volunteers).”

Catania said the district has received some funding through the Adirondack Foundation’s new SUN fund. The district has also received donations from “dozens of individuals and organizations” both locally and from out of town.

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Tupper Lake

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Superintendent Seth McGowan said the district is conducting meal preparation safely as usual in the school’s Department of Health-certified kitchen, with staff wearing gloves and hair nets.

“Everybody understands that if you’re not feeling well … they would not report to work,” McGowan said.

He said the district added meals for Saturday and Sunday this last week and that families have been appreciative.

“It’s helping to take the edge off,” McGowan said.

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Keene

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Superintendent Dan Mayberry said employees are provided with gloves and masks while preparing meals.

“We are ensuring that only healthy people are at work handling and delivering meals,” Mayberry wrote in an email. “We have provided the necessary protective equipment to protect employees and our students’ families, as well as employing physical distancing of the employee and different shifts to prepare the meals.”

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AuSable

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AuSable Valley Central School Superintendent Paul Savage said the school is delivering a weeks-worth of meals with drop-offs on Mondays and Thursdays.

“We deliver over 2,000 meals per day and are so proud of our support team in what they are accomplishing for our students and families,” Savage wrote in an email. “They need us now and we are doing all we can to ease their burden and bring some sense of normalcy to the situation.”

Savage said all individuals are screened, get a daily temperature check and use masks and gloves.