Deer Park High School Staff Member Tests Positive For Coronavirus

DEER PARK, NY — The Deer Park School District announced this week that a staff member at Deer Park High School tested positive for the coronavirus. According to a letter from Superintendent Jim Cummings, the employee was last in the building on March 11. Cummings stated that while he knows the news is "concerning" to some community members, the district is unable to provide any additional information due to privacy laws.

On Thursday, Suffolk County's number of confirmed coronavirus cases climbed to 239, up from 152 Wednesday, with 3 deaths. There are a total of 28 cases within the Town of Babylon, but it is not clear how many of those are in Deer Park.

On Sunday, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone announced that all public and private K-12 schools in Suffolk County have been ordered to close for two weeks amid dozens of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus. Before the announcement, the Deer Park School District also closed last Friday, March 13 as a precaution to deep clean buses and school buildings.

"The district has been following all guidance and procedures with regard to the cleaning and disinfecting of our facilities, which began two weeks ago, and have continued since," Cummings wrote in the letter. "This past weekend, the building was closed to the public and our custodial staff did a deep cleaning including disinfecting all high touch areas."

As testing has been increasing across Long Island, more and more positive cases are being reported this week. School officials say they will be conducting a department review to allow the local health department to contact those who have been in close contact with the staff member who tested positive for the virus.

"Our best chance to limit the spread of this virus is for us to work together," Cummings wrote.