Maplewood Schools: Two Students Have Coronavirus

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The South Orange-Maplewood school district announced Tuesday that two cases of Columbia High School students with coronavirus were confirmed in the district. Because one student is a member of the tennis team, high school tennis has been suspended for two weeks.

A letter from Superintendent Dr. Ronald Taylor states:

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"Recently we received confirmation of two covid-positive student cases in our district. Both are students enrolled at Columbia High School, one is a student-athlete on our tennis team. The other student (non-athlete with no exposure to students on our school sites) unfortunately is suspected to have been infected from their attendance at a possible house-party/celebratory gathering. The cases which have been identified at this point have been localized to specific areas outside of sanctioned District-related sporting practices/events or school areas.

"District administration has been in contact with the Maplewood and South Orange Departments of Health as well as town officials. Members of the CHS Tennis team have been notified and are quarantining. As of today, the district has decided to suspend all tennis matches/practices for the next two weeks. At this point, there are no other known cases of any other student-athlete exposure or confirmed Covid-positive cases. Therefore, our existing NJSIAA-mandated fall sports practices/schedules (these sports currently include: football, boys’ & girls’ soccer, cheerleading, band, field hockey and boys & girls’ cross-country) will continue as normal and we will continue to adhere to our COVID-safety measures to ensure that our student-athletes and staff are safe."

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The letter came on the heels of Maplewood Mayor Frank McGehee and Health Officer Candice Davenport saying in a letter Monday night that mask-wearing is now mandatory in the Maplewood Village area, and that too many teens have been spotted without masks.

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