COVID-19 cluster reported at group home for special needs children

At least three other group homes in Tippecanoe County have been hit with COVID-19.

With a cluster of covid-19 cases.

And as news 18's joe paul reports, the school has been the subject of several complaints to the tippecanoe county health department.

< "tc harris is a breeding ground."

Matthew ferry is a former employee at t.c.

Harris school in lafayette.

The school offers long- term residential and day school services for children with special needs.

It's also been the site of nearly three dozen covid-19 cases.

"we don't have enough testing to be able to routinely test staff and students.

There's not an ample amount of ppe and cleaning supplies and we're just understaffed."

Khala hochstedler says the tippecanoe county health department has received several complaints about t.c.

Harris.

The school is licensed by the indiana department of education and hochstedler says she has requested a state inspection.

"people are asking us to come in and do an inspection, but that's not our role at the health department since we don't oversee them."

The school is also limited to using third- party labs for testing because it's not considered a long- term care facility.

"as recently as yesterday, i talked with someone at work and they said that the company we use has told us that we can't even send them any more of our tests because they can't process them.

We've bogged them down with too many as it is."

T.c.

Harris provided a statement confirming at least 22 staff and nine students have tested positive for covid-19.

The statement also says the school has followed cdc guidance and has implemented several measures to mitigate spread.

Including mandate mask-wearing, increased cleaning and easy-access storage for personal protection equipment.

Reporting in lafayette, joe paul, news 18.

News 18 reached out to the indiana state department of education for comment.

A spokesperson referred us to the state department of health.

We reached out for a statement but have not heard back.

The indiana state department of health reported 5- thousand-518