Five Cranford Schools Have Announced Coronavirus Cases In 1 Week

CRANFORD, NJ — In the days after Cranford announced (Thursday) that the K-8 Hillside Avenue School would go all-remote for two weeks due to coronavirus cases, Superintendent Scott Rubin announced that several other schools had cases, but that they would not go remote for now.

Rubin sent separate letters in the last three days about Cranford High School, Hillside Avenue School, Walnut Elementary School, and Orange Avenue School.

He had also sent a letter last week about Livingston Avenue School.

To be the first to get news alerts with breaking stories in Cranford, or to get a free local newsletter each morning, sign up for Patch breaking news alerts or daily newsletters here.

On Saturday, Rubin wrote:

"The purpose of this letter is to inform you that an individual at CHS [Cranford High School] and an individual at HAS [Hillside Avenue] Elementary School have tested positive for COVID-19 and are currently self-isolating .... The Township Health Office, who is conducting contact tracing, will communicate directly with those individuals who have been identified as a close contact and will advise those families accordingly..."

The school did not have to close Monday.

Schools were already closed Thursday and Friday for the teachers' convention, and Rubin said, "Prior to Monday, an additional deep cleaning will take place [at the high school] while contact tracing is conducted."

Regarding Hillside Avenue School, he wrote, "Please be further advised that any family who has a child in the Hillside Avenue elementary classroom where the individual tested positive has already been notified." This case was separate from the three cases that closed the school for 14 days starting last week. That school is currently scheduled to resume on-site instruction on Nov. 19.

On Sunday, Rubin sent out two more letters.

The first one read, "The purpose of this letter is to inform you that an individual at Walnut Avenue School has tested positive for covid-19 and is currently self-isolating. The township Health Office, who is conducting contact tracing, will communicate directly with those individuals who have been identified as a close contact and will advise those families accordingly."

As per the state Department of Health, close contact is defined as someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period starting from two days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, two days prior to test specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated.

Families with a child in the Walnut Avenue classroom where the person tested positive were notified.

As with the high school, Walnut Avenue School was slated to open Monday after getting a deep cleaning.

Also on Sunday, Rubin sent a letter saying, "The purpose of this letter is to inform you that an additional individual at Orange Avenue School has tested positive for covid-19 and is currently self-isolating. The Township Health Office, who is conducting contact tracing, will communicate directly with those individuals who have been identified as a close contact and will advise those families accordingly."

Families with a child in the classroom with the person have been notified and were to miss school on Monday "while the Township Health Office looks into the matter and conducts contact tracing."

Last week, Rubin said that besides three students at HAS testing positive, an "individual" (which could mean a staff member or student) at Livingston Avenue School has tested positive for COVID-19 and is self-isolating.

The district had offered an all-remote or hybrid learning plan for this year.

Coronavirus cases are on the rise in New Jersey, and on Monday, Gov. Phil Murphy said that more than 1,500 people in the state are hospitalized with the virus, the highest number since June.

Over the weekend, two area high schools announced they'd go remote for 14 days: Westfield High School and Summit High. The Westfield schools said they had 23 positive cases in the high school.

Read more about coronavirus in Cranford, and where to get tested, here.

The school district calendar is here.

Got news? Email caren.lissner@patch.com. To be the first to get news alerts with breaking stories in Cranford, or to get a free local newsletter each morning, sign up for Patch breaking news alerts or daily newsletters.