Slippery Rock Area School District joined multiple other schools this week in announcing COVID-19 cases as the county continues its bout with the pandemic.

The district has been notified of four positive cases with the first case reported Sept. 27 and the others reported over the weekend, all of which have been acknowledged to parents, according to Alfonso Angelucci, Slippery Rock superintendent.

“We've been notifying them through our automated mass messaging system,” Angelucci said.

Slippery Rock is not alone in having cases. Mars Area School District as well as the Butler County Vocational-Technical School announced their first cases this week.

In an announcement Wednesday, Karns City Area School District Superintendent Eric Ritzert said, to date, there have been four positive cases at the high school and two positive cases at Chicora Elementary School.

The district said it was working with Butler Health System and the Pennsylvania Department of Health on decisions.

“Based on their investigation and contact tracing, we have been advised that we are able to remain open for in-person instruction at this time,” Ritzert said.

Susan Miller, assistant superintendent for Slippery Rock, said the district also consulted with BHS and the Department of Health when deciding a course of action.

“At our (Slippery Rock) Area Elementary School, it seems to be a cluster of cases there,” she said.

Starting Wednesday, kindergarten, first-grade and second-grade students worked online, which will continue through the weekend. Monday is an in-service day. “Our plan is for them to return Tuesday, Oct. 13,” Angelucci said.

Miller said the decision was made without being asked by the Department of Health to do so. She said it was a proactive approach.

“That was a local decision, not one we were asked to do,” she said. “We did that as an added precaution.”

While the students are working from home, the district will perform deep cleaning on the affected school building.

As Slippery Rock and other districts continue to cope with the virus, Slippery Rock University has continued its semester with its own COVID-19 cases and protocols.

According to data provided on its website, SRU has had 131 positive cases since Aug. 20. There have been 16 positive cases from Sept. 30 to Tuesday.

The university has also added further monitoring information to its public disclosure. SRU has listed 34 students in quarantine — those who have come into contact with someone who has or may have the virus — and 29 in isolation, who have or may have the virus.

As part of her daily news release, state Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine reaffirmed that colleges especially are seeing high case counts.

“We know that congregation, especially in college and university settings, yields increased case counts,” Levine said. “The mitigation efforts in place now are essential to flattening the curve and saving lives.”

According to the Department of Health, any cases at SRU are reflected in county totals that have fluctuated in recent weeks.

According to Wednesday's report by the Department of Health, Butler County added 31 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since Monday's update.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 1,055 county residents have tested positive for the virus. The county's death toll remained at 25.

Butler Health System also reported an increase of two hospitalized COVID patients at Butler Memorial Hospital.

Butler Memorial has three inpatients — two suspected of having the virus and one a confirmed case. No patients are being treated in the intensive care unit.