COVID cluster at Ridgefield school prompts testing recommendation

A cluster of COVID-19 cases among Farmingville Elementary School’s students and staff has prompted Ridgefield school officials to recommend testing for people who have been in the school recently.

“Given the number of cases that have appeared in Farmingville in the last several days, we are recommending that anybody who has been in the Farmingville building since December 7th be tested for COVID-19,” said a message to Ridgefield school families Friday, Dec. 18.

Farmingville School is the site of eight of 12 “recent cases and active quarantines” listed on the COVID-19 data tracker on the Ridgefield Public Schools website, as updated late Friday morning.

As of then, Farmingville School had 111 students and 31 staff listed as in quarantine.

The only other school with a still-active listing was East Ridge Middle School, with 63 students and 8 staff members in quarantine.

Friday’s announcement listed two COVID cases that had resulted in potential exposures at Farmingville earlier in December:

“One individual was in the FES building while potentially infectious to others on Monday, December 14 and one was in the building while potentially infectious to others on December 14, 15 and 16.

In-school transmission cannot be ruled out in the second case.”

The notice was sent by Aaron Crook, the school system’s COVID-19 Health and Safety Compliance Liaison.

A previous announcement, sent Wednesday Dec.

17, told of a positive test for

COVID-19 by someone who “was in the FES building while potentially infectious to others on Friday, December, 11.”

Friday’s email also said the Farmingville building will be closed to staff next week. Students in all Ridgefield schools were already on remote learning next week, but staff in other schools have the option of conducting their remote classes from their school buildings.

Since the beginning of the school year, 1,246 students and staff from the Ridgefield schools have been placed into quarantine, the school system was reporting Friday morning.