Westhill High soccer team in quarantine
2 COVID cases announced after game with rival
STAMFORD — Westhill High School’s boys varsity soccer team just started its season last week, but is now in a two-week quarantine after two players tested positive for COVID-19.
A letter sent from Principal Michael Rinaldi to staff on Tuesday stated that the entire varsity team would need to quarantine beginning on Wednesday, but that did not include any adults from Westhill staff.
“Please know that once again we were able to effectively perform the contact tracing protocol,” Rinaldi wrote.
The team had just played two games against Stamford High School, on Monday and Thursday. The Westhill Athletics social media account posted a video of the Monday game earlier this week.
Stamford High students were also told to quarantine, but Sharon Beadle, spokesperson for Stamford Public Schools, said she could not reveal if those students were players on the school’s varsity soccer team.
Beadle said the district could not share any details about the COVID cases or quarantine, citing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, as the reason.
She said the city’s Health Department advised the school district not to release any “identifiable information of who is impacted.”
Over the weekend, Stamford Public Schools announced that no spectators would be allowed at sporting events, even though Connecticut does allow for a limited number of spectators at school games.
The Stamford Board of Education last week voted to allow Superintendent Tamu Lucero to suspend or modify restrictions to allow nonessential visitors to school facilities before, during or after school. During that meeting, Lucero spoke about the idea of allowing up to two visitors per player to attend games.
But on Saturday, the district announced that no family or friends would be allowed at games. The decision was made after consulting with the city’s Department of Health.
“Although disappointing and challenging, we understand and support the Stamford Department of Health’s guidance, released late last week, regarding prohibiting fans/spectators at athletic events and continuing to limit the number of extracurricular activities,” wrote Lucero, in an emailed message.
Stamford Board of Education member Jackie Pioli claimed the guidance hasn’t been followed in some cases, in which spectators have attended games.
“It is disheartening to know that even after the board voted and Dr. Lucero made her decision, we still have parents in our district who are not following the rules,” she said.
The district updates and online COVID dashboard every Thursday, which includes total number of cases in the district, the number of people in quarantine and how many schools have been affected so far.
As of last Thursday, there were 16 confirmed cases of COVID cases in the district since school opened a month ago, with 74 people in quarantine and 11 schools impacted.
It’s unlikely Marsha and I will ever take the 14-hour flight from New York to New Delhi, but that hasn't stopped a recent prickle of interest in the subcontinent.
Instead of booking a seat on a flight, we’ve been sitting at home exploring India through movies, music, and of course, food. I know, it’s just a taste of the country’s rich and diverse culture, but a taste will satisfy for now. If we’re going to dream about travel these days, we might as well dream big.
Our journey started with one of our favorite food movies — “Today’s Special” — a reliably upbeat but not sappy tale of a second-generation Indian chef in a highend New York restaurant who reluctantly returns to his origins, taking over his father’s failing storefront restaurant in Queens, rediscovering his roots and a lost love of cooking.
The many scenes involving shopping, cooking and eating made us hungry for authentic Indian cuisine. Our friends Marcia and Dean were not familiar with the movie, but knew quite a bit about local Indian restaurants. Dean speaks with authority from years spent living in India during his career.
“We’ve enjoyed the food at The Naan on Westport Avenue,” he suggested. “The ingredients are fresh and prepared right.”
The essence of Indian cooking is found in its “masalas,” — robust spice blends that form the foundation of many dishes.
Garam masala and tikka masala are two of the better known blends that have become a part of popular Indian cuisine in America. But the ubiquitous curry powder is also a form of masala premixed from a variety of spices, each brand with its own distinctive flavor. Masala blends might include finely ground cinnamon, mace, peppercorns, coriander, cumin seeds, turmeric and cardamom. The bright orange of turmeric, a standard component of many masalas, gives some of India’s best known dishes their distinctive, vibrant color.
In “Today’s Special,” a good deal of time is spent shopping for and creating the masala. At the market, large bags of the spices are selected, each romantically described for their contribution to the whole. In the restaurant, the chef creates