Three students at Princeton Day School test positive for COVID-19

Three upper school students at Princeton Day School tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend, according to an email school officials sent to families and staff members on Monday.

Upper school students are in grades 9 through 12. The three students who tested positive for COVID-19 are asymptomatic, were tested over the weekend, and immediately contacted the school, Headmaster Paul Stellato said in the email to the campus community.

Out of an abundance of caution, all Upper School classes will be remote on Tuesday, Oct. 13 and Wednesday, Oct. 14. All Upper School athletics practices and games on Tuesday and Wednesday have been postponed or canceled. The Lower School and Middle School will continue their regular schedules.

Stellato said PDS can continue to operate the Lower School and Middle School as planned because the three divisions operate in separate “bubbles” and there is minimal contact between the divisions.

“We will use this time to complete exhaustive contact tracing of members of the community who were in close contact with the individuals,” Stellato wrote. People who are determined to have been in close contact with the infected students will quarantine for 14 days. The 14-day quarantine is mandatory and in effect even if a close contact is tested and receives a negative result, Stellato wrote.

All affected spaces have been thoroughly cleaned and sanitized, which is part of the school’s protocols. The Princeton Health Department has been notified about the cases. As part of the school’s COVID-19 policies and procedures, if a student is tested for COVID-19 for any reason, the student must stay home until the test results are received.

School officials will reevaluate the status of remote learning on Wednesday, Oct. 14.

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Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.