Brick Schools Evaluating COVID Surge On Case-By-Case Basis

BRICK, NJ — While the sharp rise in coronavirus cases across New Jersey over the last month has some school districts shifting to remote instruction for a couple of weeks, the Brick Township Schools are maintaining in-person instruction.

The district has not seen an increase in cases among either students or staff that is enough to warrant a move to virtual instruction for the entire district, officials said Wednesday.

"We have seen a little bit of an uptick, just as we did after Thanksgiving," said Susan McNamara, the district's director of planning, research and evaluation. "We are not doing anything reactive."

"We take the health and safety of our students and staff very seriously," she said, and evaluates everything on a case-by-case basis, which has been the approach of Superintendent Thomas Farrell since the beginning of the pandemic, she said.

Farrell's case-by-case approach has served the district well, McNamara said. Just two schools have been moved to fully remote instruction since September 2020 due to outbreaks: Brick Township High School was shifted in late November 2020, and Veterans Memorial Middle School was shifted to fully remote instruction in January 2021, district officials said.

The school district's staff — teachers, bus drivers, aides, cafeteria workers, custodians and all the support staff — have been instrumental as well in keeping classes in person, she said.

"The staff has followed every set of guidance, every protocol we have asked them to," McNamara said. "Everyone has worked very hard to implement the safety protocols."

As of Wednesday, Ocean County has seen an increase of 12,336 new cases of the coronavirus since Dec. 23, including 1,666 new infections in Brick. There have been nine Brick residents who died of complications from COVID-19 since Dec. 23.

Hospitalizations across New Jersey have been rising rapidly, with 5,464 people across the state hospitalized due to COVID-19, and 362 of those patients on ventilators. There have been 5,369 COVID-19 patients released from hospitals across New Jersey since Dec. 23, and 8,468 new admissions over that time.

McNamara said that rapid rise had everyone's attention, but it was not clear how much the district was affected. Monday's snow day, however, helped.

"It gave us a day to take a breath and see where we are with staff and students," McNamara said, and the confidence to move forward with resuming in-person classes.

It also has given the district time to make sure the staff and district families are aware of the new quarantine guidelines that were given to schools by the state Department of Education just before winter break.

The current guidance does not reflect the newest update released by the CDC during the holiday break, however it does allow students and staff to get tested and, if negative, return to the classroom sooner after an exposure to someone who is COVID-19 positive.

Those guidelines are:

Those who test positive for COVID-19 must isolate for 10 days. They may return on Day 11 as long as they have no symptoms.

For those who are determined to be close contacts of someone who tests positive for COVID-19, but isn't someone they live with, these are the guidelines:

If the close contact is vaccinated, they do not need to quarantine but should keep wearing their masks and watch for symptoms. If they have symptoms, they should stay home and get tested.

If the close contact is not vaccinated, they must quarantine for 10 days, but they can get a laboratory antigen or PCR test on days 5-7 and if negative, they may return on day 8.

For those exposed to COVID-19 by a household member who is positive and from whom they cannot isolate:

Those who are vaccinated do not need to quarantine from school but should monitor for symptoms for 14 days and be tested on day 5-7 to determine if they are negative.

Those who are not vaccinated must quarantine for a minimum of 18 days if an antigen or PCR lab test on day 15-17 comes back negative. If they choose not to test, they must be out 24 days.

NOTE: This article has been updated to clarify that Veterans Memorial Middle School was shifted to fully remote instruction from Jan. 25-Feb. 7, 2021. Patch regrets the error.

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