Brick Superintendent Urges Caution Amid Coronavirus Rise

BRICK, NJ — Rising cases of the coronavirus — most of which affected one school — prompted Brick Township Schools Superintendent Thomas Farrell to urge parents and staff to take precautions to limit exposure and infection over the winter break.

The district has had nearly 60 cases of the virus among its more than 8,500 students, but saw a significant jump in the numbers since the November Board of Education meeting. The rise in cases was primarily concentrated at Brick Township High School, which led to the district shifting the high school to remote instruction, Farrell said Friday.

None of the cases have been connected to in-school transmission, he said, but have been during outside events and family contacts.

Those contacts are a concern over winter break, he said.

"I implore our families, students and staff to follow CDC protocols on travel," Farrell said during Thursday's Board of Education meeting.

Farrell on Friday said more than half of the new cases that came in between Nov. 9 and when Brick High School was moved to remote instruction were at the high school, which is why only that school was moved to remote instruction.

He and Susan McNamara, the district's director of planning, research and evaluation who oversees the district's coronavirus response, said they were aware of rumors in the community that the Brick Township spike resulted from a Sweet 16 party.

"We were never able to confirm that rumor," McNamara said.

Indoor gatherings have been repeatedly cited by Gov. Phil Murphy as a significant issue in the spread of the coronavirus. As of Sunday, there have been more than 432,000 cases since March, including 5,184 new ones on Sunday, according to the state Department of Health COVID-19 website. As of Saturday, 3,571 people were hospitalized due to the coronavirus, with 707 in intensive care and 471 patients on ventilators, according to the state COVID-19 website.

Ocean County remains in the orange "high risk" category due to the rates of transmission of the coronavirus. As of Sunday, Ocean County had 28,477 cases, up 3,100 from 25,344 on Dec. 12. Brick has 460 new cases in that time, with 3,479, up from 3,019 on Dec. 12, according to the Ocean County Health Department.

"We look at each building and assess each building separately and we quarantine classes when needed," Farrell said. "But there's a lot of at-risk students who need to be in school."

That includes a variety of students, including special needs students, English Language Learners and students faced with other difficulties and challenges.

McNamara said students and parents have been cooperative about contact tracing and the information the district needs to report to the Ocean County Health Department.

"Is there stuff people leave out, probably," she said. "But from the very first phone call we had to make (about a case in the schools) the parents and staff members have been really cooperative.

Farrell said parents who are concerned about rising cases do have the option to move their children to fully remote instruction.

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