Manchester Elementary Goes Remote Amid Staff COVID-19 Quarantines

MANCHESTER, NJ — Manchester Township Elementary School has been shifted to remote instruction until further notice after several staff members were forced to quarantine due to exposure to the coronavirus.

District officials announced the shift to remote status Sunday evening.

In a notice on the district's website and Facebook pages, officials said the district was notified Sunday that a staff member had tested positive for the coronavirus, and that several other staff members were identified as close contacts of the infected staff member.

It was not clear whether students were exposed to the infected staff member as well.

Remote instruction will last for at least a week, but the announcement said there is no in-person instruction at the school until further notice.

"As we receive additional information, it will be posted on the website. We apologize for the late notice, however the school district just received this information," the notice said.

Ocean County is in the orange "high risk" category due to the rates of transmission of the coronavirus. As of Sunday, Ocean County had 36,076 cases, up 2,525 from 33,551 on Jan. 3. Manchester has 189 new cases in that time, with 2,384, up from 2,195 on Jan. 3, according to the Ocean County Health Department.

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