The high school, based on Broad Street, shares a parish campus with St. James School and church. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Catholic High School has shut down in-person instruction and canceled Friday night’s football game “due to COVID-19 exposure,” according to a published report.
The school has suspended all athletics and extracurricular activities through November 19 and will shift to virtual instruction, according to a report Thursday night by Shore Sports Network.
That includes tonight’s game against Raritan at Count Basie Fields, the report said.
The site attributed the information to athletic director Joe Montano, who was quoted saying that the Department of Health “recommended we go to virtual instruction and suspend all athletics and extracurricular activities for 14 days” after three students tested positive for COVID-19 this week.
As of midday Friday, RBC officials had not responded to inquiries by redbankgreen. The school’s website gives makes no mention of a shutdown, though its calendar indicated “no classes” on Friday, and “virtual learning begins” on Monday, November 9.
In addition, the website carried a notice that an HSPT Placement Test scheduled for Saturday had been postponed, to November 10 and November 24, with some students eligible to take the test virtually, on November 21.
NJ.com reported Friday that RBC was among more than 50 schools to cancel sports over COVID-19 concerns.
The Caseys had been set to host Donovan Catholic on Saturday, November 14 in the first playoff round for an unofficial Shore Conference football championship. But “that game will not be played,” Shore Sports Network reported.
On Wednesday, Red Bank Regional High announced it would be off-limits to students and staff through next week, including for sports.
Four students had recently tested positive for COVID-19, though district Superintendent Lou Moore said there was “no evidence of community transmission” of the virus on the Little Silver school’s campus.
The number of COVID-19 cases has been soaring nationally and in New Jersey. On Friday, the state Health Department reported almost 2,200 new cases from Thursday, with 14 deaths statewide.
In Monmouth County, the cumulative number of cases since the start of the pandemic rose by 120 from Thursday, to 14,944, the state reported.
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