Around Manchester: Schools Issue Coronavirus Update
MANCHESTER, NJ — While the nation's attention is focused on Washington, DC, and the inauguration of Joe Biden as president, here's what's happening in Manchester this week.
In the schools, Manchester Township Elementary School remains on fully virtual instruction until Jan. 25, due to staff member exposures to another staff member who tested positive for the coronavirus.
Hybrid instruction was continuing in all other schools in the district, Superintendent David Trethaway said.
Trethaway said two additional staff members at Manchester Township Elementary tested positive. Also testing positive were five high school students, two high school staff members, tw0 middle school staff members, one Whiting staff member and one Ridgeway staff member. The additional cases were not connected to in-school activities.
In an update Jan. 15, Trethaway said there has been a change in guidance from the state regarding students with symptoms of COVID-19.
"In children, signs/symptoms are often mild, and it may not be possible to clinically distinguish COVID-19 from other illnesses. For this reason, the New Jersey Department of Health recommends that any child with COVID-19 compatible symptoms should not return to school until they have either received a negative viral test (molecular or antigen) for SARS-CoV-2 or they have completed an isolation period of at least 10 days since symptom onset and at least 24 hours after resolution of fever without fever-reducing medications with symptom improvement," Trethaway said. "A purely clinical alternative diagnosis is no longer acceptable."
Students who are isolated at home are still able to attend school in the remote setting.
The Board of Education is scheduled to meet Wednesday, with an executive session at 6 p.m. followed by the public session. The meeting is held in the auditorium at Manchester Township High School and can be watched on YouTube; the district posts a link to the YouTube meeting on its Facebook page the day of the meeting.
Also, here's an update on the coronavirus numbers in Manchester and Ocean County.
Ocean County remains in the orange "high risk" category due to the rates of transmission of the coronavirus. As of Monday, Ocean County had 39,787 cases, up 3,711 from 36,076 on Jan. 11. Manchester has 191 new cases in that time, with 2,575, up from 2,384 on Jan. 11, according to the Ocean County Health Department.
Ocean County has had 1,447 deaths from complications of COVID-19, up from 1,298 as of Jan. 3. Manchester has 235, up from 222 in that time.
There have been more than 568,000 people who have tested positive for the coronavirus via PCR test in New Jersey since March 2020, including 3,511 new PCR positives reported Monday, according to the state Department of Health. As of Saturday, 3,432 people were hospitalized due to the coronavirus, with 632 in intensive care and 426 patients on ventilators, according to the state COVID-19 website. The number of COVID-19 patients in ICUs and those on ventilators has decreased over the last week.
Around town
The Township Council is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. on Jan. 25. The meeting will be held virtually; you can read how to access it here.
Headlines you may have missed last week:
Manchester Duplex Destroyed By Morning Fire: A fire damaged both halves of the duplex, leaving the homes uninhabitable. One firefighter suffered an ankle injury but no other injuries were reported.
Manchester Man Sentenced To 10 Years In Senior Community Slaying: Thomas Hatchett, 88, received what amounts to a life sentence in the shooting death of Igal Hedad, 71, who was found face down in the middle of a Leisure Village West street in 2019.
2 Men Sought In Manchester Fraud Investigation
Manchester Residents Urged To Apply For NJ Property Tax Rebates: Manchester Township senior citizens are reminded to apply for New Jersey's "senior freeze" property tax rebate program. The deadline was extended to Feb. 1.
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This article originally appeared on the Manchester Patch
