High School And Middle School In Essex County District Go Remote Due To COVID-19 Cases

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Columbia High School, which draws students from Maplewood and South Orange, and South Orange Middle School have now both gone remote for the rest of the week due to a rise in COVID-19 cases, the district announced.

[WEDNESDAY UPDATE: In addition to these two schools going remote before winter break, the district announced that all schools will remain remote the first week in January. Read more here.]

"The health and safety of our students is our priority. Therefore, under the recommendation of our local health departments (both Maplewood and South Orange), to protect the health of staff and students, we must temporarily shift Columbia High School from in-person instruction to virtual instruction," read a note sent to parents on Tuesday afternoon.

"Due to a 'considerable uptick' in [COVID-19] student cases across all grade levels at CHS, staff absences and the number of absent and quarantining students, beginning on Wednesday, Dec. 22, ALL students and staff will transition to all-virtual instruction for the remainder of the school week."

A similar announcement had been made the day before for South Orange Middle School:

"Due to a 'considerable uptick' in [COVID-19] student cases across all grade levels at SOMS, beginning on Tuesday, Dec. 21, all students will transition to all-virtual instruction for the remainder of the school week," read that announcement.

Students are tentatively scheduled to return to classrooms after winter break ends, on Jan. 2, 2022.

Schools in Essex County and across the state have been adjusting this week to the rise in cases. The Millburn schools announced Tuesday that they will have half days for Tuesday through Thursday due to COVID cases.

Forty-Five New Cases

In the South-Orange Maplewood schools, the COVID dashboard for showed Monday that cases had doubled in the last week over the previous two weeks, and nearly tripled from weeks in November.

The weekly case tracking chart showed 45 cases as of Friday, which is more than all cases in November combined.

After-school clubs this week will be held virtually, and bagged lunches will be distributed to those who need them.

"We understand this may be a hardship for some of our families and can be disruptive to student engagement, however, the health and safety of our students and staff is paramount," the district wrote in their message about the Middle School. "According to current data, the cases at SOMS are not due to in-school transmission. However our community transmission is high and the cases are rising. To prevent the possibility of additional cases we are moving to a virtual learning format."

Earlier this month, the district announced that everywhere in the state is now deemed an area of high transmission by the state Department of Health. That means any unvaccinated South Orange-Maplewood School District
student or staff person who is exposed to COVID-19 must now quarantine for 14 days. They will receive remote instruction.

In America, as of Sunday, 806,000 Americans have died of COVID since the start of the pandemic. The daily death rate is highest right now in Michigan, Montana, Arizona, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Read the state rankings here.

READ MORE: Omicron Variant Makes Up 13 Percent Of NJ/NYC COVID Cases

Other COVID Information

• Scientsts studying the new Omnicron variant — identified first in a sample in South Africa last month — say it's more transmissible than some variants but are unsure so far how effective vaccinations are against it. More studies will be done.

• The CDC estimates that more than 140,000 children have lost a close caregiver to the virus.
• Vaccinations now been recommended by the CDC for adults and for children 5 and over.
• Read the statement about Omicron and find links to get tested or vaccinated in New Jersey with this link.

New Jersey has launched a "vaccine appointment finder," which can be found here.

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