Verona’s public schools are returning to their hybrid learning program today, Tuesday, December 15, after the completion of contact tracing related to COVID-19 exposures at an unauthorized event at the Verona Fire Department’s Station No. 2. In the hybrid model, a small percentage of students in each classroom in each of the six school buildings are taught in person, while the rest remain at home.
Superintendent Dr. Rui Dionisio made the announcement in an email late last night. The email also said that there is one new positive case of COVID-19 in H.B. Whitehorne Middle School and that the Montclair Health Department is in the process of notifying anyone identified as being a close contact with the positive individual to self quarantine and monitor symptoms. It did not indicate whether the HBW case was related to the firehouse gathering.
According to a case dashboard in Dionisio’s email, there have been 86 quarantines among school staff and students in the past 14 days, and four positive COVID-19 cases.
Overall COVID-19 cases in Verona are soaring. Essex County reported 11 new cases on Monday alone, raising Verona’s positive to 388 from just 337 a week earlier, an increase of 15%. Verona’s positive count stood at 302 on December 1, making the increase for the month so far 28.5%. Verona’s positives rose nearly 44% in November.
