Long Beach High closes because of Covid spike

Long Beach High School has closed and shifted to online instruction for the rest of the week. The decision to go remote was made Monday afternoon.

A large increase in Covid-19 cases through the week was the main catalyst in the decision, with 52 positive tests being confirmed out of just over 1,300 students. That number is a clear increase from the beginning of the school year — there were 21 cases from September through Oct. 21.

“It was clear today that shifting to remote instruction at the high school was the best way to ensure that all students got sufficient instruction this week,” Schools Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Gallagher said in a district-wide email. “The Covid positivity numbers at the high school have been higher than recent ones, for sure, but never more than 1 percent of the total student population per day.”

There were 100 students and faculty in quarantine at the time of the closing, most of whom had not tested positive themselves, but who had been exposed to a family member who was positive. Some 387 students were absent Monday. Gallagher said a combination of positive tests, other illnesses or fear of getting sick could all have been factors in the absences.

“I want to emphasize that even at the high school, we still have had little evidence of in-school spread,” Gallagher said. “Our precautions have been working. Most of the positive cases at the high school have been traced to outside events.”

Gallagher said the outside events could include parties, retreats and other such activities. She said she “understands the kids desperately need the happiness and normalcy during these events,” but that such events can “lead to an uptick in positive cases.”

Positive cases have increased slightly in the other schools, but not as much as the high school. Gallagher said she does not “anticipate having to put any other buildings on remote instruction this week” and does not have any plans to shift the high school to remote learning after the winter break but noted that it can be “unpredictable.”

“I just wanted to update the entire community on the reasoning behind the high school decision and to reassure you that at this point, the other building do not have plans to shift to remote instruction,” Gallagher said.

Cases have increased markedly across Long Island, with Nassau and Suffolk counties reporting 3,973 new cases on Sunday. There were also 24 confirmed cases of the Omicron variant as of Sunday, according to health reports.