36 Quarantine After Close Contact With COVID In East Brunswick

EAST BRSUNWICK, NJ — Thirty-six students and staff members in East Brunswick school district have had to quarantine after two students were presumed positive for COVID-19. School Superintendent Victor Valeski announced on Monday afternoon.

The district asked 24 students and 12 staff members to quarantine as “close contacts”, said Valeski.

The students were from Irvin Elementary School and Churchill Junior High School.

This comes immediately after a few student-athletes from the school district were asked to quarantine after coming in "close contact" with a COVID positive player from the opposing team.

Read More Here: East Brunswick Athletes Quarantine After Close Contact With COVID

Valeski told the community that the entire school district may have to make “operational adjustments” if the number of COVID positive cases increase.

“I want to prepare you that we may need to make operational adjustments for a school, multiple schools or even the entire district if we begin to experience an increase in lab confirmed positive cases among our schools’ populations,” he said.

He however emphasized that the district’s aggressive approach towards quarantine protocols has resulted in no person-to-person transmission within schools so far.

“While these numbers appear large it is important to emphasize that by our aggressive quarantine protocols we have avoided any person-to-person transmission of COVID-19 within the EBPS community. To date, all positive COVID cases have resulted from contact outside of schools,” Valeski told the school community.

Last week, an entire department in the school district administration building had to quarantine after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19.

Read More Here: East Brunswick School Admins To Quarantine After COVID Case

The past few weeks have seen several students and staff members from the district quarantining due to coronavirus. The largest so far was on Oct. 5, when over a 100 had to quarantine after two students tested positive and two were presumed positive for COVID.

Read More Here: Over 100 Quarantine After COVID Positive Cases In East Brunswick

Valeski asked the school community to be careful while travelling outside the state or country during the upcoming student break from Nov. 2-6, and over Thanksgiving break.

“If you have traveled to a state or country that is listed as a destination that requires quarantine when you return to NJ, please follow those guidelines like our school district operations depend on it, because, frankly, it does,” Valeski said in his statement.

Thank you for reading. Have a correction or news tip? Email sarah.salvadore@patch.com

Get breaking news alerts on your phone with our app. Download here. Sign up to get Patch emails so you don't miss out on local and statewide news.