The Montauk School and the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center reported cases of Covid-19 over the weekend, and students in one class at each school have been asked to quarantine.
It is the Eleanor Whitmore Center’s first case -- dating back to the early days of the pandemic. The facility served as a free day care center for children of essential workers in the region through the spring and summer.
One class at the Eleanor Whitmore Center, where the case involved a student, will have to quarantine for 14 days. Classes will still be in session for other groups of children.
“Every family in the affected classroom has been notified. If you have not yet been notified, your child’s classroom has not been affected,” Tim Frazier, the interim executive director, said in a message posted on the center’s website on Saturday. “The center has been following strict cohort procedures, keeping each classroom separated and isolated from each other. Please know that we are taking this case very seriously and are acting with a sense of urgency around containment and notification.”
For Montauk, it is the second case involving a staff member. The first time a case was reported, the school voluntarily closed for two days, but will not close this time around. The Suffolk County Health Department said the school does not have to close in this case, according to Jack Perna, the district superintendent.
"Contact tracing is being done by the Department of Health, and students in that class must quarantine until October 27 as per the [Health Department] guidelines,” he said in a statement to families. “All students involved have already been contacted. Please know that if you have not been contacted by the school or the D.O.H., your child did not have immediate exposure to the virus in school.”