No evidence of in-classroom transmission as number of COVID-19 cases at N.J. schools rises, state says

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Though at least six New Jersey school districts have reported positive COVID-19 cases in the first two weeks of in-person classes, none of those cases are believed to be incidents where students or teachers caught the coronavirus in the classroom, state officials said Monday.

Schools in Howell, Frankford, Little Silver, Chatham and Washington Township in Gloucester County and a county vocational school in East Brunswick have all switched to remote learning or asked some students to stay home due to positive COVID-19 cases.

It is believed the students and teachers who tested positive all got the coronavirus outside of school and no one they came into contact with in the classroom has contracted COVID-19, Gov. Phil Murphy said at his coronavirus press briefing.

“I don’t believe we’re aware of any in-school transmission ... It feels to me, I’d say quite strongly, that this system is working. Steps are being taken as they should be,” Murphy said.

State health and education officials have not been alarmed by the first wave of cases, the governor added.

“It’s about what we expected,” Murphy said.

State Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said schools have been following state guidelines that require them to help local health officials trace and contact all of the students and teachers an infected person came into contact with at school.

“The schools are doing, I think, an excellent job in the contact tracing,” Persichilli said. “They’re really working it.”

State officials said it is likely there will be some in-school transmission of the coronavirus at some point as more districts reopen and students and teachers spend more time in school.

“The longer that we wait and see the more likely that is to happen. This is the reason why we set up these surveillance systems. This is the reason why we put out all this information to the schools and the schools work with the local health departments,” said Edward Lifshitz, the state’s communicable disease service medical director.

As of Friday, 771 school district reopening plans had been approved by the state Department of Education, officials said. They included 395 districts with hybrid plans combining in-person and at-home learning, 266 districts that are all remote, 75 holding only in-person classes and 35 that have a combination of in-person, remote and hybrid plans in various schools.

There have been more than 16,000 deaths in N.J. attributed to COVID-19 since the state recorded its first case in early March.

Still, Murphy has taken steps to reopen businesses that have been shuttered since he imposed strict restrictions to blunt the spread of the outbreak in mid-March. Last week, gyms across the were permitted to reopen, as were movie theaters and restaurants were allowed to let diners eat indoors ahead of the Labor Day weekend.

Murphy said he thinks “the chances are relatively low” there will be any significant spikes in COVID-19 cases after he lifted restrictions on restaurants and some schools reopened for in-person classes.

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Kelly Heyboer may be reached at [email protected]

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