Teen Parties Tied To Coronavirus Cases At Fairfield High Schools

FAIRFIELD, CT — More than 100 people may need to go into quarantine after Fairfield teenagers attended parties over the weekend, despite the coronavirus pandemic.

“This could really set our town back in a significant way,” First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick said Wednesday at a news conference, which was called to discuss the parties and their role in the spread of the virus.

About six gatherings of high school students last weekend may have resulted in positive cases, according to Kupchick, who said one such party was broken up by police because it was too large. As of Wednesday, five Fairfield Ludlowe High School students and one Fairfield Prep student had tested positive for the coronavirus. Fairfield Ludlowe announced Wednesday it was closing the school building for the rest of the week to allow for cleaning and contact tracing.

“A weekend like this puts everything in question,” Superintendent Mike Cummings said, explaining that while Fairfield Public Schools is committed to bringing students back to the classroom on a full-time basis as soon as possible, the process of doing so is fragile. Fairfield schools started the academic year with a hybrid model that has students in the classroom part-time.

Health officials are working to identify the close contacts of the students who tested positive for the virus, according to Health Department Director Sands Cleary, who added the parties teens have been attending have not involved masks or social distancing. Students required to quarantine will be out of school for two weeks, Cummings said.

Kupchick said she received repeated reports of middle school and high school students gathering, without masks and in large groups, on Post Road, the Black Road Turnpike and in other areas across town. Students are following safety protocols in school, she said, but when they’re out of class, it’s a different story.

“There is a civic responsibility that is required not just for us as adults, but also for those of you, as parents, for your children,” she said, adding the situation with teens in town could cause the pandemic to “spiral out of control.”

Fire Chief Denis McCarthy urged community members to wear a mask and maintain 6 feet of social distance, noting, “Fairfield is now at a crossroads.”

“We cannot enforce our way through it, we cannot fine our way through it,” he said. “This really requires all of us to take our civic responsibility seriously.”

In Fairfield, the pandemic peaked in mid-April, with a high of 39 cases reported April 20, according to town data. Case counts dropped over the summer but have recently begun to climb, with 18 cases reported Wednesday.

As of Wednesday, the town had seen 799 cases and 144 virus-associated deaths since March. Fairfield University and Sacred Heart University, which have both encountered issues containing the virus since the semester began in recent weeks, had 206 combined cases as of Wednesday. Of the university cases, 34 were included in town case total.