Cranford High School Can Reopen For On-Site Class Thursday

CRANFORD, NJ — After Cranford High School went remote on Wednesday because an individual there (student or staff member) tested positive for coronavirus, Superintendent Scott Rubin said Wednesday morning that the school can reopen Thursday for a regular schedule.

"I have remained in close communication with Department of Health officials," Rubin wrote Wednesday. "During this time, they conducted contact tracing. Please be advised that their research indicates that the transmission occurred at a non-school event."

He noted, "Furthermore, the Department of Health officials indicated that they believe the mitigation strategies implemented in school, particularly the wearing of face coverings, make it unlikely that further transmission took place at school. Please also know that an additional cleaning and disinfecting will be completed today."

He said that even though school will resume classes on-site, "It is important to remain vigilant of one’s health status and to contact your child’s doctor should you have any individual concerns."

Two other Cranford schools are presently remote for 14 days, although one is set to resume classes Thursday. Hillside Avenue School will return after two weeks of remote learning, even though an individual associated with the school tested positive recently. Orange Avenue School went remote last week.

The town of Cranford provided an update Friday saying there had been four new coronavirus cases confirmed among residents since the day before, for a total of 632 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. (Read more here.)

Over the weekend, the state of New Jersey said it had confirmed the highest number of new cases since in April. On Sunday, the State of New Jersey reported 18 new fatalities since the day before, and a record high of 4,540 new cases, following 4,395 positive cases on Saturday. Before that, the highest one-day total was 4,391 on April 17.

Doctors have said that a number of factors are contributing to the drop in the death rate since spring, including people getting test results (and thus treatment) sooner, more protective equipment available in hospitals, and doctors becoming better able to treat the virus. However, the virus still can have long-term effects.

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