Fifty-three students are currently self-isolating after a middle school faculty member received a positive COVID-19 test result Sept. 17, Head of School Robin Appleby said. 

Those who were identified as having close contact will stay home for 14 days since their last contact with the infected individual as a precautionary measure.

Appleby said that the conditions that constitute close contact are based on the U.K. COVID-19 guidance.

Appleby said any further positive cases that arise will be treated similarly to the initial case, following the exact same protocol that was followed last night.

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“There’s a whole protocol for essentially doing an internal track and trace,” she said. “What you do is you immediately try to figure out [with whom] the person has had … direct contact.”

In addition, Appleby said that the administration will treat the case as an evaluation of the established protocols.

“If none of the students who have to stay home because of this develop [symptoms], that’s going to tell us something about the risks of contact,” she said.

Despite the confirmed case, Appleby said that, as it stands, campus “is pretty far” from closing. 

“Honestly, the only way that we would experience a school shut down is if the government decreed that,” she said.

The Standard will continue reporting any new developments regarding COVID-19 at ASL.