Point Beach Schools To Start 2022 In Person: Superintendent

POINT PLEASANT BEACH, NJ — When classes resume in the Point Pleasant Beach Schools Monday after winter break, students and staff members will be in the buildings, as they were before the holiday.

Point Pleasant Beach Superintendent William Smith said there were no plans for the district to shift to fully remote instruction — a move some districts in New Jersey have made because of a surge in coronavirus cases.

"We will return in January as we are leaving in December — with open schools," Smith said in an email Dec. 23.

Even as cases have surged dramatically in the last week, there was no indication Thursday of any change in plans.

New Jersey has had more than 113,000 new infections reported since Dec. 23, and more than 1,500 new hospitalizations. As a result, some New Jersey school districts have moved to remote instruction for the beginning of January.

In Ocean County, there have been more than 4,500 new infections since Dec. 23, and 19 deaths. In Point Pleasant Beach, there have been 67 new infections reported and one person has died. (Point Pleasant Beach has had 21 residents die from complications of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.)

CDC guidelines for quarantine have changed, and the state Department of Health had changed quarantine rules for schools earlier in December. Students and staff members who are identified as closes contact of someone who tests positive for COVID-19 only are required to quarantine if they are not vaccinated, according to the recent change by the state Department of Health in its guidelines for student and staff quarantines.

Those who are fully vaccinated or who have had COVID-19 and recovered from it within the last 90 days do not have to quarantine, under the new guidelines. Those who are required to quarantine can return to school after seven days if a COVID-19 PCR test at the fifth day or beyond comes back negative for the virus. Without testing, unvaccinated students or staff must wait 10 days in quarantine.

The CDC on Monday reduced quarantines to five days from 10, but how quickly that will filter down to the state health officials and from there to schools is unclear.

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