Parents Who Sent COVID-Positive Kid to School Could Face Criminal Charges in Marin.
Last week the Marin Independent Journal reported that 8 children contracted COVID and 75 were quarantined after a family knowingly sent their infected child to an elementary school in Corte Madera and failed to tell anyone.
Neil Cummins Elementary School.
The parents, who have not been identified, were notified the week of Nov. 8 by the Marin County Health and Human Services Department that one of their two children tested positive for COVID. The parents were told to keep both children home and to notify the school but instead, they told no one and sent their children to school on Nov. 9-10, 12 and Nov. 15-18. This, according to Brett Geithman, superintendent of the Larkspur-Corte Madera School District.
You might imagine this angered parents & faculty.
“We are aware of a potential violation of a health order at in Corte Madera,” said Marin County District Attorney Lori Frugoli to KTVU. “At this point, law enforcement authorities are working on the case and when their investigation is finished, they will submit it to my office. We will then review it to see whether any laws were violated.”
Frugoli told KTVU, “As in all cases, we are bound by legal obligations to make sure we can prove a law was violated at a standard of beyond a reasonable doubt before proceeding forward.”
According to state statutes, this infraction would likely result in a criminal misdemeanor for failing to comply with state quarantine orders. A violation punishable by up to 90 days in county jail.
The parents have since apologized and claimed that they did not understand the public health orders around positive tests.
Meanwhile, everything is back to normal at Neil Cummins Elementary School, the outbreak is over and all the children who tested positive last month have now returned to school.
No word on potential civil lawsuits against the parents.
