Coronavirus Fears Lead To Cancellation Of School's Europe Trip

SOUTHOLD, NY — With coronavirus fears escalating worldwide, Southold High School announced Friday that the annual Europe trip for students has been canceled.

The students had planned to travel in April to Italy — with scheduled stops in Rome and Florence and a trip to the Cinque Terre — Monaco, France and Spain.

On Monday, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the risk associated with COIVD-19 infection for people in the EU/EEA and UK rose to its second highest level, "moderate to high"; the top level is "high."

In Southold, the trip's faculty coordinator Dr. Ivan Santiago wrote to parents: "My role as Europe trip coordinator was to prepare all of our students with an opportunity to travel abroad. However, Southold School District has decided to take an abundance of caution with regard to the COVID-19 virus. In short, our plans for an April departure have been cancelled."

He then detailed the process to attain a refund. A meeting will be held Monday night at 7 p.m. in the Southold High School Library to discuss the cancellation process.

"I'm sure this evening has been difficult for you and your children given the current circumstances surrounding the Europe trip and cancelations," Southold Junior-Senior High School Principal Terence Rusch wrote Friday night. "The CDC has declared all of Italy a Warning Level 3 - avoid nonessential travel. This dramatically changes our standing."

Southold School Superintendent David Gamberg said the trip was canceled due to the coronavirus but that the district is working with the travel company to secure details on the refund process.

Parents took to social media Friday night to express concerns that the trip was canceled without any discussion with families; the fear, Britta Barbashak, mom of a student, said, was that students who worked hard to pay for the trip might lose funds. Her hope is that the students and families receive 100 percent of their money back, or a full credit for a future travel date.

According to The Guardian, so far, there have been more than 89,000 cases of coronavirus reported and the global death toll has spiked past 3,000; Ireland, Portugal, Iceland and Andorra all confirmed their first cases — but officials added, two months in, most cases and deaths stem from China, where the death toll is 2,912. In Iran, 66 have died, with 1,501 confirmed cases; Mohammad Mirmohammadi, an adviser to Iran's leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei died Monday, the post said. In Italy, In Italy, infections almost doubled over the weekend to nearly 1,700 cases, with 35 fatalities, the Guardian said.

Close to home

Two people have died in the United States, with New York's first confirmed case reported.

Washington state health officials said late Sunday that a second person died from COVID-19: a man in his 70s from a Seattle-area nursing facility, where dozens fell ill and were tested for the virus. The state has climbed to 12 confirmed cases, with the number of new cases also announced in California, Florida, Illinois and Rhode Island.

Locally, the first person to test positive for novel coronavirus in New York City is a health care worker who returned from a trip to Iran Tuesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced.

The 39-year-old woman, not considered in serious condition, self-isolated in her Manhattan home with a mild respiratory illness, Cuomo said. The woman's husband, also a health care worker, is being tested at Mt. Sinai and remains at home with his wife, Cuomo said.

"We said early on, this wasn't a question of if but when," Cuomo said. "The whole challenge is about containment of the number of people who become expected."

Ten New York City dwellers have been tested for novel coronavirus and one case is still pending, according to the city's Health Department.

Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot told New Yorkers to continue their normal routines — not to avoid public transit — but to be diligent about hand-washing.

"Ride the subway, take the bus, go see your neighbors," Barbot said. "We need to separate facts from fear, and guard against stigma and panic."

And, despite a rush to scoop up face masks and hand sanitizer that has left shelves bare in many locations, experts say face masks are not recommended for the otherwise healthy general public for a few reasons:

• Many masks add little value and need to be fitted to work.
• Viruses are so small they pass through most masks and no mask is 100% effective.
• There is a shortage of masks for health care professionals who have to be masked and for people who are actually sick to reduce the risk of their spreading it.

Experts have continued to advocate for washing hands often as the best safeguard against the virus.