Houston-area school district closing for a week due to COVID-19 outbreak

A Houston-area school district announced Monday that it will close schools for a week due to a COVID-19 outbreak.

In a statement posted to Facebook, the Onalaska Independent School District said classes are set to resume on Sept. 7.

The school district, which consists of Onalaska Elementary School and Onalaska Junior Senior High School, started its academic year on Aug. 16.

“During this temporary closure, no remote instruction will be provided. Our existing school calendar will not need to be altered unless necessary due to additional closures. All extracurricular activities, games, and practices will be suspended,” the school district said.

“We will also use this time to not only perform our routine cleaning, but provide the opportunity for deep cleaning of our facilities,” it added.

The announcement said extracurricular activities will be canceled until Sept. 7 as well.

The school district has seen an increasing number of students testing positive for the virus, particularly among the unvaccinated, as the highly contagious delta variant spreads, according to local ABC affiliate KTRK.

Onalaska was one of the districts in the state that complied with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) executive order and made masks optional in schools, KTRK reported.