Cranford High School To Go Remote Because Of Coronavirus Cases

CRANFORD, NJ — Cranford High School students will be learning remotely this week due to three positive cases in the school community in two days, and because of the high transmission and case rates in Union County, Superintendent Scott Rubin wrote in a letter on Saturday.

Because the district also decided to be remote for the first week in January, following winter break, those students won't be back in the school buildings until Dec. 11 at the earliest.

Rubin wrote Saturday, "The purpose of this letter is to inform you that two additional individuals at Cranford High School have tested positive for COVID-19 and are currently self-isolating. Please be advised that the District in partnership with the Township Health Office, has already communicated directly with any individuals who have been identified as a close contact and advised those families accordingly."

He explained, "Based on guidance from the Township Health Department, Cranford High School will transition to full remote learning, from Monday, Dec. 21 through Wednesday, Dec. 23. The Health Department based its decision for CHS to temporarily transition to full remote learning on the following: this is the third case within the last 2 days at CHS, Union County cases are on the rise, and we are in a high zone according to the regional COVID-19 activity level matrix. Our purpose in temporarily transitioning is to mitigate any reasonable possibility of spread within the school, which at the present time, we have no evidence of."

The other schools will continue to operate on their regular schedules.

Read more about the schools' plan to go remote in January here.

Another case

Rubin also wrote Sunday of another case at an area school. The district has continually reported positive cases.

"The purpose of this letter is to inform you that an individual in an elementary school classroom at Hillside Avenue School has tested positive for COVID-19 and is currently self-isolating," he wrote. "Please be advised that the District in partnership with the Township Health Office, has already communicated directly with any individual who has been identified as a close contact and advised those families accordingly. As per the NJ Department of Health, close contact is defined as someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to test specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated."

"Please be advised that any family who has a child in the Hillside Avenue School classroom where the individual tested positive has already been notified."

More than 316,000 Americans have now died of the virus.

Last week, New Jersey reached its highest death toll in six months from the virus, or 97 people in one day.

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