North Andover Town Staff To Go Remote For 2 Weeks

NORTH ANDOVER, MA — North Andover's town employees will work remotely for two weeks, the town said, amid a surge in local coronavirus cases.

All non-essential town employees will be remote from Dec. 21 to Jan. 4, the town said.

As of Tuesday, there were 231 active coronavirus cases, down slightly from the peak of 261 on Dec. 10 but still higher than from any other time on record.

"The library, town hall, and senior center will all be closed to the public during this time," the town said. "The library and youth center will be running limited programming. "

The high school is also remote until Jan. 4, due to a cluster of cases on the youth hockey team. The team had four cases and the school another 10, as of Friday.

There were 80 identified close contacts required to quarantine, with additional contacts pending. The school expects to return to the hybrid model Jan. 4.

Town employees are still reachable by phone and email; find the department listing here.

The town was labeled high risk again in the latest state update. The current 231 cases bring the town to 1333 total. Fifty-two residents have died. Thirteen active cases are linked to Merrimack College.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.