Quantico Base Schools To Close For Coronavirus Cleaning: Report

QUANTICO, VA — Marine Corps Base Quantico has closed its schools in order to clean them after a Marine living on the base tested positive for the new coronavirus on Saturday, Stars and Stripes reported Monday. Crossroads Elementary School and Quantico Middle High School will be closed all day Tuesday for cleaning, according to the report.

The two schools will undergo “a thorough environmental cleaning" as a "preventive measure,” Helen Balilo, Department of Defense Education Activity superintendent for New York and Virginia, said Monday in a statement.

The base’s child development center and youth centers also will be underdoing extra cleaning as a precautionary measure, Stars and Stripes reported.

A Marine who recently returned to the United States after traveling to Ethiopia on official business was one of the first two confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, or COVID-19, in Virginia.

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The Marine is being treated at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital. In response to the Marine testing positive for the coronavirus, Marine Corps Base Quantico, where he was assigned, is operating under a Code Yellow status, which means reasonable delays in reporting to work at the base are excused and unscheduled leave may be authorized. Mission Essential personnel are expected to report to work on the base, according to the base.

A daughter of the Marine who tested positive plays on the Manassas Volleyball Club, InsideNoVA reported Monday. The volleyball club reportedly emailed parents Sunday that the Marine is the parent of one of the volleyball players.

The Marine reportedly is showing improvement, and the Marine’s family is not showing any symptoms.