St. Lawrence school switches to remote amid cases; Michigan reports over 1,000new infections
Five COVID cases associated with private school
Five reported cases of COVID-19 at St. Lawrence Catholic School in Utica forced educators to cease in-person instruction Tuesday.
The small, private school in Utica, with an enrollment of about 730 students, was reopened Wednesday with remote learning, which is expected to continue through at least Oct. 19. The school itself refused comment and referred questions to the Archdiocese of Detroit.
The archdiocese did not indicate how many of those infected by COVID-19 were students and howmany were staff members. A spokesperson did say those who were infected are “doing well and recovering.” After initially quarantining individual classes, the school went to the distanced learning plan and is working closely with the Archdiocese of Detroit and Macomb County Health Department to help prevent further infections and keep the community updated, sources said.
The Archdiocese did not indicate if the those who contracted the virus did so in school or outside of it.
The Macomb Daily was able to obtain copies of correspondence sent to St. Lawrence families Tuesday from Principal Lisa DiMercurio in which she said additional students had tested positive for the virus since she had communicated with families Monday evening. In the letter, DiMercurio said the remote learning schedule would allow the school community to quarantine for two weeks from the date of the most recent positive case.
During that time period, Oct. 15-16 are professional development days for the teachers and no online instruction will be provided DiMercurio added in the letter.