Morristown, NJ H.S. goes remote after spike in COVID-19 cases

Morristown High School was closed Friday to in-person learning because of a sudden spike in reported COVID-19 cases and dozens of pending test results.

A letter from principal Mark Manning reported 10 positive cases, a number which grew suddenly on Thursday.  The principal did not specify if those affected were students, teachers or staff. Contact tracing had been conducted and those impacted by possible exposure had contacted.

The school will stay on all remote learning until at least Monday, Nov. 22 with students attending class on their normal schedule.

All sports and extracurricular activities are also suspended. The theater club's presentation of "Harvey" scheduled during the closure period has been postponed until December.

District-wide there are 21 positive cases with an additional 71 cases pending. All other Morristown public schools are open for in-person instruction as usual.

School officials told TAP into Morristown the increase likely happened because of the recent four-day weekend resulting from the NJEA teacher's convention in Atlantic City. The spike shows the importance of keeping up with COVID-19 protocols outside of school and when traveling.

The state COVID-19 dashboard reports new seven outbreaks reported in Morris County with 33 linked cases but it's not clear when the dashboard was last updated.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ