COVID Concerns Sideline Some Hopatcong Schools' Upcoming Events

HOPATCONG, NJ — With Sussex County having reached an "orange status" with its COVID case counts, the Hopatcong School District has postponed two events until after the New Year.

On the district’s website on Monday was a message from Superintendent Dr. Joseph Piccirillo, announcing that both the Middle and High School Band concert planned for Thursday and the Night of Hope on Saturday — an annual event that fundraises for Hopatcong families in need - have been deferred, “in light of new guidance from the Health Department.”

Each county on Monday was mapped out as a “high” and orange status on the state's most recent COVID-19 Activity Level report, dated week ending Dec. 4. On that report, Sussex is grouped in with the “Northwest” region, with Morris, Passaic and Warren Counties, with the Northwest holding a case rate of 42.18.

“This [the postponement] is being done as a result of an uptick of cases and our county now being in an orange status,” Piccirillo wrote.

“We hope to reschedule these events in the New Year,” he wrote.

The district also indicated on its website that beginning last Friday because of the orange status, all quarantines in school statewide, including close contacts, are for a 14-day period, with no test-out option.

According to a news release from the County of Sussex on Monday, as of Dec. 10, Sussex County’s Division of Health announced 312 new positive COVID cases among residents.

On the state’s website Monday, there were 97 new confirmed cases and 16 probable attributed to Sussex County, for a total of 16,809 confirmed cases so far since the start of the pandemic, placing Sussex County the fifth-lowest statewide for its total COVID counts.

Questions or comments about this story? Have a local news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.

This article originally appeared on the Hopatcong-Sparta Patch