Paterson Public Schools, the fourth-largest school district in New Jersey, will move entirely to remote learning for two weeks after the holiday break as the number of COVID cases in the state surges.
The district said Wednesday students and staff will be all-virtual from Jan. 4 to Jan. 18. (Students were already scheduled to be on break starting the afternoon of Dec. 23 through Jan. 3.)
“The rising numbers of COVID-19 cases due to multiple variants are cause for concern for all of us. A surge of new cases has occurred in northeastern New Jersey, and it is expected that the trend will continue through the holiday break,” Paterson Superintendent Eileen F. Shafer said in a statement.
Earlier this week the district moved two of its high schools to all-remote learning given the growing outbreak.
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The city of Paterson's dashboard shows an uncontrolled spike in COVID cases in recent days, with daily positives now at levels last seen in mid-January. That mirrors the statewide outbreak, with New Jersey on the verge of breaking the all-time record for daily cases and cities urgently reinstating mask mandates.
