Newton-China Exchange Postponed Amid Coronavirus Concerns

NEWTON, MA — Because of the growing concern about the spread of the deadly coronavirus out of Wuhan, China, the annual Newton High School student exchange has been postponed. The sister school in Beijing has been ordered to stay closed for a while after the holidays and students there have been told to stay home.

It's not clear when- or if - this year's group of students will continue with their program, though Newton District officials said they are working with the Newton Health Department and plan to reevaluate in March.

"We're telling students and families that the trip has been postponed indefinitely," Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education Toby Romer told Patch.

Each year in January a group of students and teachers travel to China for four months. The students are selected the school year before and go through an intensive four-week language study the summer before the exchange. This year seven students have been planning this for six months.

"The level of frustration was significant for everyone," said Romer. "It's a really complex sitation. but everyone was in agreement it was the safe thing to do."

As of Feb. 2, there were nearly 14,500 cases of infected people worldwide, including more than 300 fatalities in China, according to the CDC. Whole cities have been under lockdown, as the country grapples with the virus.

The Newton Beijing Jingshan School Exchange is one of the oldest high school exchanges with China in the U.S. For more than 30 years students and a teacher have been heading to Beijing Jingshan School for the spring semester, according to the program website. While in Beijing, teachers teach English and continue their own study of Mandarin. Students attend classes in Chinese language, history, art, music, math, science, and martial arts — all in Chinese. The school in China then sends a group to Newton to stay with host families in the fall semester.

In the fall, as per usual, Newton hosted two students from the Beijing Jinghan. Romer said Newton host families have been in touch with the two students and are trying to figure out ways they can help, perhaps through a fundraiser in the near future.

Those students have conveyed that although the school is usually still closed for the holidays right now, the authorities have ordered the school to delay its reopening of the school, said Romer.

Some 15 years ago during the SARS outbreak students were already in China when it became clear that the virus was spreading. The district called that group home a couple of weeks early out of an abundance of caution, according to Romer.

Brookline's exchange program with a school in China has also been disrupted.

The first case of the virus in Massachusetts was confirmed Friday night. On Friday the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary declared the virus a public health emergency and ordered any US citizens returning from the center of the outbreak in China to be quarantined for two weeks as a precaution. This came on the heels of the World Health Organization's declaration Thursday that the outbreak is now a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. As of Monday, 11 people in the United States have been diagnosed with the virus.

Romer said they've been watching daily health updates and have sent home a number of communications to families, held meetings and plan to continue to update them as things progress.

"We've gotten great support from the Newton Health and Human Services Department in terms of evaluating the health warnings that are out there from the CDC and the World Health Organization. They're always terrific partners for the Newton Public Schools and have been helpful in this situation," said Romer.

Still, health officials in the US say risk of the coronavirus to the public here is low, and advise residents to wash their hands often, cover their mouths when coughing and sneezing and staying home if experiencing illness, as a precaution against any respiratory virus or influenza. Health officials say this year the common flu actually poses a bigger threat, having reportedly sent 180,000 people to hospitals in the U.S. during the past four months. The CDC estimates 10,000 people have died in the U.S. because of the flu this season.

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna)