Four football coaches at Bearden High School and at least three players have tested positive for the coronavirus, an email sent to school board members Monday said.
The email, obtained by 10News, said the Knox County Health Department suspects an additional coach was previously positive for coronavirus, but that the test had not been verified.
Other coaches are now in quarantine due to potential exposure, the board of education was told.
Bearden High School canceled football practices and games for two weeks beginning Sunday. The school did not state a reason for the decision, but sources told 10News that COVID-19 concerns played a significant role.
Initially, parents were told their students had not been exposed. In an email to parents Thursday, Bearden's principal Debbie Sayers said, "Because proper safety protocols were followed, none of our student-athletes have been identified as at risk of exposure."
On Monday, the communication from the health department indicated three players had tested positive in the three days since Sayers sent that message.
The Knox County Schools director of communication did not respond to repeated requests for comment, sent to her office Friday, Sunday and again Wednesday night.
The email to board members detailed text communications between Jason Myers, the district's executive director of student supports who was formerly Bearden High School's principal, and a person named Charity at the Knox County Health Department.
Charity Menafee is the director of communicable and environmental disease at the Health Department.
In the text Monday to Myers, the health department representative expressed support for the decision to cancel two weeks of football events, "We at KCHD always support these types of administrative decisions that are made in an effort to prevent the additional spread of disease."
The text said four of 10 coaches tested positive and "you have at least three players now positive since Friday."