Glen Rock High School Shuts Down In-Person Learning Due To Spike In COVID Cases After Spring Break
GLEN ROCK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) - A New Jersey school shut down due to a spike in COVID cases.
It happened days after students returned from spring break.
As CBS2's Jenna DeAngelis reports, the superintendent of the school confirmed there have now been 16 positive cases in the high school since the district returned from spring break, but that's not a shock to the students she spoke with.
"Honestly I wasn't really surprised. I kind of expected there to be a lot," said junior Sophia Brencovich.
Brencovich is among the Glen Rock High School students returning from a week off who say they knew there was a chance COVID cases would spike.
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"It's crazy, the amount of case," said junior Kayla Robinson.
The school superintendent alerted parents in a letter, saying contact tracers determined it is "highly likely that each of the students were exposed to COVID-19 outside of school."
Web Extra: Read the letter (.pdf)
The superintendent added that the school will "err on the side of caution" and go virtual.
"Right now, we're completely online," said senior Molly Knight.
DeAngelis met Knight in town after virtual learning wrapped up for the day Wednesday. She's normally on a hybrid schedule.
"When I'm in school we're all wearing masks, we're all distanced apart. Stuff like that. I don't think its school, I think its maybe seeing people outside and sports and stuff," Knight said.
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The superintendent says contact tracers found some of the positive cases are athletes across several sports teams, also finding a majority of the recent cases can be traced back to social gatherings in town over spring break.
Families were also reminded in a letter sent before spring of the state's travel advisory to quarantine upon returning.
"It seems to be spreading a lot quicker thorough the younger community," said local business owner Christine Modica. "I can't really be too surprised about it - they're yearning for one another."
Modica encourages the community continue safety measures.
"We're at the tail end of this. We're so close," she said.
That view is echoed by students who are itching to be back in school full time.
"I'm hoping we're all in school next year," Brecovich said.
"Hopefully we have somewhat of a normal year next year," a student named Julia said.
Nobody with the district would go on camera, but told DeAngelis students are expected to return on Monday.
If that changes, they'll be notified by 3 p.m. Sunday.
