Fairfield School Worker, 2 Students Test Positive For Coronavirus

FAIRFIELD, CT — A worker at a Fairfield middle school and two Fairfield students have tested positive for the coronavirus, officials said Tuesday.

Custodians may have been exposed to the virus from a temporary cleaning worker at Roger Ludlowe Middle School who tested positive, according to a message Tuesday from Fairfield Public Schools. Custodians who had potential exposure have been asked to quarantine, with replacement staff stepping in to clean and disinfect school facilities.

The school district sent a second message later Tuesday, which said a Fairfield Ludlowe High School student had tested positive for the virus, but that the student was in quarantine when they tested positive and had not been in the school building since Sept. 29.

“There is no need for anyone else at FLHS to self-quarantine and school will remain open,” said the message from Superintendent Mike Cummings and COVID-19 Health and Safety Compliance Liaison Angelus Papageorge.

Additionally, a student enrolled in the district’s Remote Learning Academy has tested positive, the message said. The student has not had close contact with anyone in the school community.

As of Tuesday afternoon, 22 Fairfield Ludlowe students had tested positive for the virus since the beginning of the school year, and 15 of those students had recovered. The cases, attributed to events outside of school where students were not wearing face masks or social distancing, resulted in Fairfield Ludlowe intermittently closing its building over the course of the last two weeks as a safety precaution.

On Monday, the school district announced it would close its elementary school playgrounds to the public during school hours after gatherings without masks or social distancing occurred at the sites.

In addition to the students and staff member who have contracted the virus, another 70 students and 14 employees were in quarantine as of Tuesday. Affected schools included Fairfield Ludlowe and Fairfield Warde high schools; Roger Ludlowe and Tomlinson middle schools; Holland Hill, Mill Hill, Sherman, Osborn Hill, Riverfield and McKinley elementary schools; and the Early Childhood Center at Fairfield Warde.

This article originally appeared on the Fairfield Patch