There are two new cases of COVID-19 H.B. Whitehorne middle school, Superintendent Dr. Rui Dionisio announced in an email Tuesday evening. HBW had four positive COVID cases in October and two in November, one of which was identified as a school transmission.
Dionisio said the Montclair Health Department is notifying anyone who was a close contact with the positive individual to self quarantine and monitor symptoms, but did not indicate whether the new case would affect the school closure now in place. VHS and HBW went back to fully remote instruction on Tuesday, November 24, after positive cases of COVID-19 at both schools. They were to stay remote through Monday, December 7. Verona’s elementary schools are remote through then as well.
The email about the new case came on the same day that Verona topped 300 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began: Essex County announced yesterday that Verona had reached has recorded 302 positive cases. That is an increase of nearly 44% from November 1, when Verona had 210 positive cases. Verona also had one more death from COVID-19 in November, raising our total to 15 from 14. COVID-19 is on track to be the third-leading cause of death in Verona in 2020.
Dionisio’s email said that anyone who has questions about the HBW case can contact Bob Merkler at [email protected].
