An area high school football game that was scheduled to be played on Friday, September 4, has been canceled.

Santa Fe R-10 Superintendent Derek Lark said he was approached by a patron from the opposing team during a volleyball match on Tuesday, September 1, who kindly informed him that he was sorry to hear about things at school; Lark replied, “what would that be?” “Well”, the patron said, “I heard pretty much the entire football team has COVID and you’re going to have to close the high school”. To which I replied, “Well, that’s good to know; I’ll tell the guy in charge!” The truth is that we should all probably give pause about anything we hear nowadays, especially when it comes to schools, politics and Covid-19.

According to a release from Lark to clarify, “While we have had our first positive cases and students quarantined as a result, we are not closing the high school, and only one player on the high school football team is positive for “the” virus.

“As you may recall from last week’s update, all of this was assumed to happen as there is simply no way to stop it, short of never leaving home. The facts are that at the time of writing this (5:06 p.m. on 9/2), we have three positive cases at the high school, zero positives at the elementary, and 12 in quarantine because of ‘close contact’- 11 at the high school and one at the elementary. Six of these quarantines are a result of contact with people outside of the walls of Santa Fe facilities.”

Lark’s update also says: “On another note, you may know that as a result of quarantines, we had to make the decision to cancel our football game this Friday. This is very unfortunate, and I do wish this decision could have been avoided.”

The Chiefs were scheduled to host Worth County with Northeast Nodaway for an eight-man game.

In other news, Lark says the new air purifiers have been installed in both buildings. The Bi-Polar ionization air purification machines remove any pathogens (viruses/mold/mildew/bacteria/allergens (pollen/smoke) from the air. These systems will be in addition to the district’s new air handlers, all of which should greatly help improve the air quality within the facilities from what it has been in the past. Lark also says: “As well, buildings continue to be wholly disinfected daily and regular sanitation protocol for students is in place, along with other measures. Nothing, however, is full-proof.”