Schools

South Brunswick Sees Highest Weekly COVID Increase Since May

Officials attribute the increase to various factors including international and out-of-state travel.

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — South Brunswick on Monday reported the biggest increase in COVID cases in five months. Last week, 19 people tested positive for COVID-19 - a first since mid-May.

According to officials, several cases involved community spread. “...it appeared that several cases involved significant community spread contained within family groups, meaning that efforts to quarantine from the community at large were effective, but the virus still spread throughout their individual households,” officials said in a statement.

Officials said that international and out-of-state travel were also a factor in several cases, as were college students testing positive at their colleges but being reported at their home addresses.

Find out what's happening in South Brunswickfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

This is the second time the town has reported cases in the double digits, since the initial high during the beginning of the pandemic.

On Sep. 14, 17 people tested positive for COVID, with most being college-related.

Find out what's happening in South Brunswickfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Read More Here: South Brunswick Reports Highest Weekly COVID Total In Three Month

The average age of the 19 people who tested positive last week was 34 years. The total number of COVID positive cases in town now stands at 558.

"In addition to those 19 new cases, we were informed of 10 additional cases confirmed from previous months, bringing our total number of COVID positive cases to 558," officials said.

Town officials said they was working closely with the school district to keep students safe.

The South Brunswick School District welcomed two groups of special needs students back to school buildings in the past two weeks. The school district said this move was made possible due to the low number of COVID cases in town.

Read More Here: South Brunswick Schools Report Successful Week Of In-Person Class

“South Brunswick Office of Emergency Management, Police Department, and Health Department continue to work closely with our public and private school leadership in communicating vital information, assessing potential threats to safety, and collaborating on planning as students participate more and more in in-person activities,” officials said in a statement.

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