Erskine Academy in South China will go remote through March 30 because of COVID-19 cases in three individuals associated with the school, officials said.
In a letter to the community, Erskine Academy Associate Headmaster Jamie Soule wrote that all three cases appeared within a 24-hour period. There is also an additional probable positive case. The entire school will begin remote learning Wednesday and will return to in-person classes in one week.
“The three cases and the additional probably case have resulted in the inability to staff the building adequately,” Soule wrote.
According to Robert Long, spokesman for the Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention, “The cases would have to be epidemiologically linked and from separate households to meet the definition of an outbreak. Maine CDC has not opened an outbreak investigation as of (Tuesday) morning.”
Long could not confirm Tuesday night whether it would be considered an outbreak.
Erskine Academy is in the process of notifying close contacts.
The private school on Windsor Road in South China has 531 students in grades 9–12 from eight towns — Chelsea, China, Jefferson, Palermo, Somerville, Vassalboro, Whitefield, and Windsor — which offer school choice and pay tuition. Families outside those communities can also pay tuition to send students there.
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