North Andover High School Goes Remote As Town Remains High-Risk

NORTH ANDOVER, MA — North Andover High School will spend the next two weeks remote, school officials announced Thursday, after five coronavirus cases at the school were linked to gatherings outside of school where safety precautions were not followed.

The town remains a high-risk community, according to the latest town-by-town data released by the state, Thursday. The town has had 40 cases in the last two weeks, for a 9.4 average daily rate per 100,000 residents, above the eight per 100,000 threshold to be deemed high-risk.

According to the school officials, fifteen other high school students are in quarantine pending testing results.

>>MA Town-By-Town Coronavirus Stats: High-Risk List Keeps Growing

"This is not a case of in school transmission, but instead the result of poor choices being made in our community and among our school family," town and school officials said.

The high school will switch to the remote model from Friday through Nov. 6; officials hope to switch back to hybrid learning on Nov. 9. There will be no athletics at the school until Nov. 9 at the earliest.

Other North Andover schools will remain in the hybrid model.

Altogether, the town has 39 active cases, it reported Thursday. Thirteen are linked to the Merrimack College outbreak, which initially drove the town into the high-risk zone. But the town's positive test rate over the last two weeks was 0.51 percent, down from 0.76 percent last week.

Statewide, the positive test rate was 1.4 percent Thursday, the highest level since mid-August and up from a low of 0.8 in September. Seventy-seven cities and towns were designated high-risk.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.