Lehighton Area School District will be moving to a virtual education platform through Friday due to an increase of George’s Transportation bus drivers who have tested positive for COVID-19 or have to quarantine.

“After discussions with our transportation provider, we feel this is the safest option for all of our students and staff,” Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver said in a message to parents.

George’s was able to field enough drivers to cover routes on Monday.

“We were in contact with Leon (George) throughout the weekend trying to figure what options they have,” Cleaver said. “We tried to figure out some alternate routes and double runs, but our safest bet right now for the safety of our kids and staff and everyone involved, and just to be fair to everyone, is to go to a virtual platform for the remainder of the week and then they have some drivers will be coming back.”

George did not immediately return a call for comment.

Transportation companies around the state have been fighting driver shortages all year. To address the shortage, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation mailed a letter from the Pennsylvania Department of Education reaching out to approximately 376,000 people with commercial driver’s licenses to help connect interested drivers with school entities. The Wolf administration reported on Oct. 21 that more than 1,300 individuals have expressed an interest in serving as a school bus driver through the survey.

While Lehighton has had in-person instruction longer than most area school districts throughout the pandemic, going to a full virtual platform around the holidays last year, Cleaver said, has prepared everyone for the remainder of this week.

“With our experiences from last year, parents are hopefully used to the online platform so we feel that we could make a smooth transition,” he added.

Cleaver said the district’s bus runs require just over 20 drivers at one time.

“We really looked at it and this was the last thing we wanted to do, but you have to realize a lot of Leon’s substitutes are also his full-time employees who are being affected by this so he’s really being hit from all angles,” Cleaver said.

Any after-school activities requiring transportation will still go on as Cleaver said there are currently enough drivers to cover those runs.

As for Lehighton’s COVID-19 cases, the district reported five students tested positive the week of Oct. 24 and one has tested positive so far this week.

Bagged breakfast and lunch will be available for pickup daily from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. through Friday at the grades 3-5 main entrance of the elementary center.

Around the state the percent positivity for the week of Oct. 22-Oct. 28 decreased to 8.8% from 9.2%. Carbon County is at 12.5%, with Lehigh at 7.9%, Monroe at 9.9%, Northampton at 8.2% and Schuylkill at 15.8%.