Three Students At Christian Brothers Academy Positive For COVID

LINCROFT, NJ — Three students at Christian Brothers Academy in Middletown have tested positive for COVID-19, and as a result, the boys' prep school has moved entirely to online classes for the next two weeks.

All the students had been back in class, five days a week, at the school's bucolic campus in Lincroft.

However, the entire student body will now move to a fully remote, online learning schedule beginning Thursday, September 25 and lasting through Friday, October 9, the school announced.

“Over the course of the past two weeks, three of our students have tested positive for COVID -19," said CBA President Brother Frank Byrne in a statement on the school's website. "Although the cases seem to have originated outside of school, CBA is following the directives of the New Jersey Department of Health and will move to virtual instruction for two weeks. We look forward to having our students back on campus on October 14, after the holiday weekend."

Out of all the counties in New Jersey, Monmouth and Ocean are seeing an uptick in COVID cases.

At the start of this week, Monmouth officials said it was mostly due to youth sports and team practices. Almost half of Monmouth's new cases are young adults between the ages of 16 and 25.

For example, there has been a cluster of 13 COVID-positive cases among youth ice hockey teams that practice at the Middletown Sports Complex.

“I know there has been a lot of talk about the recent uptick in COVID cases in Monmouth County and I would like to shed some light on why they are occurring,” said Monmouth County Freeholder Tom Arnone. “The bulk of exposures are from youth athletic facilities, school sports practices and gatherings that occurred during Labor Day weekend.”