COVID-19 detected in MCPS trio

Christchurch stays free of COVID-19

by Larry Chowning – 

Three more students and staff in the Middlesex County Public Schools (MCPS) have tested positive for COVID-19 stated an email on Jan. 30 from MCPS superintendent Peter Gretz.

“There are three individuals (students and staff) who have tested positive for COVID-19,” it stated. “Two were last in their respective building on Thursday, Jan. 21. One other individual has been identified as a close contact of these two people and has been directed to quarantine.

“The third individual who has tested positive was last in his/her school on Monday, Jan. 25,” it further stated. “While no individuals in the school were identified as close contacts in this situation, there are students living in the same house, each of whom has been directed to quarantine.

“I am encouraged by the success of our mitigation strategies in preventing widespread quarantine when these rare circumstances do occur and am proud of the responsible attention of our students and staff,” wrote Dr. Gretz.

“It should be noted that not one person has contracted COVID-19 from exposure in any of our schools, to date.” 

The email further stated future announcements of COVID-19 cases and associated quarantining individuals in schools will not specifically name the school where the teacher/student/school personnel attends.

Middlesex County Public Schools has not released the total number of students and staff who have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

Christchurch COVID-19 free

In Christchurch School’s January alumni newsletter, Assistant Head of School for Advancement Wesley M. Charlton said no staff or students at that school have yet tested positive for COVID-19. “I am pleased to report that we were able to finish out the first half of the year without any COVID-19 outbreaks on campus! We are very proud of this, especially since we were also able to provide in-class and in-person academic instruction to our boarding students,” Charlton wrote. Following their winter break, returning Christchurch students had to show negative COVID-19 test results and initially enter quarantine as a precaution. “I am yet again happy to report that all of our students made it through quarantine without any positive cases, and they have all been cleared to resume normal campus life,” he wrote.

(Southside Sentinel Editor Don Richeson contributed to this story.)