9 Coronavirus Cases In 10 Days In Seaford Schools, Supt. Says

SEAFORD, NY — Nine new positive COVID-19 cases have been reported over the last 10 days across the Seaford Union Free School District, with some cases requiring contact tracing in schools, according to Superintendent Adele Pecora.

Five students and four employees have tested positive for the virus since Feb. 12, Pecora wrote in a Feb. 22 letter to the community, which is posted on the district’s website. The bulk of the cases occurred in Manor Elementary where one student and four staff members tested positive. Two students tested positive in Seaford High School, and one each in Harbor Elementary and the middle school.

Six students tested positive for the virus as of Pecora’s last update on Feb. 12.

“As a community we must be committed to keeping children home who are not feeling well. It is vital that if a student or an employee is not feeling well or believes to be close contact to someone who has tested positive, that he/she remain at home,” Pecora wrote.

She went on to ask that parents whose children test positive send an “immediate” email notifying the school’s principal and nurse.

The Seaford school district was not the only school to report new cases this week. In Wantagh, 15 high school students —including 13 seniors — at tested positive and most of the cases stemmed from a social gathering held over the weekend, News 12 reported. The entire senior class was placed on remote learning and extracurricular activists such as athletics were suspended.

The suspension means that some seniors might miss their final games of winter.

In Manhasset, 38 students tested positive last week at the secondary school, and it shifted to remote learning while high risk winter sports, which were set to expire before the return to school, were also suspended. Those positive cases were also attributed to a series of social gatherings labeled “superspreader” events by schools Superintendent Vincent Butera, who chastised the community’s lack of social distancing in an open letter.