Summit Cancels School Sports Due To Union County Coronavirus Rate

SUMMIT, NJ — Summit Superintendent of Schools Scott Hough sent a letter Friday noting that because Union County "moved from a moderate activity level to a high activity level for COVID-19 transmission risk," the local Department of Health recommended canceling school athletic and in-person extracurricular activities until further notice. However, the Department did not recommend closing schools as yet, Hough said.

School districts around Union County have responded differently to the new "high" level, which applies to several areas of New Jersey. The Cranford school district, for instance, will be remote for two weeks after Thanksgiving. Westfield advised students that it will not go remote as of now, but that could change.

Summit already noted over a week ago that the district will go remote for some of January, and has asked parents to return after the holidays by Jan. 3. But most schools are staying open for now.

Hough wrote Friday, "The reasoning behind this recommendation [regarding sports] is because these activities cannot follow the same rigorous protocols as we can in the school setting, and it would also require students from both the maroon and gold cohorts to come together. Therefore, the Department of Health recommended to suspend these activities at this time."

He added, "I understand how heartbreaking this is for our student-athletes, but this is the reality we are facing when we continue to experience increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases in our community."

Elsewhere in Summit, the library and most City Hall offices have closed indefinitely, as well as some recreation programs. Others are open for now. See the list here.

2,505 hospitalized statewide

As of Wednesday evening, the total number of confirmed cases of Summit residents since March was 373. There were 55 confirmed cases so far in November.

There have been 18 fatalities of Summit residents from the virus, the last in October, a 102-year-old woman.

Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday that the state had reached 14,900 deaths of residents due to the virus. There were also 3,635 cases confirmed since the day before, for a total of 290,370 since March.

Murphy said there were 2,505 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in New Jersey as of Friday, with 452 in intensive care and 233 on ventilators.

The state also said that 34 people had passed away due to the virus in 24 hours. But the death rate was lower than in late April, when it reached 460 cases in 24 hours on April 30.

Doctors have said that a number of factors are contributing to the drop in the death rate since spring, including people getting test results (and thus treatment) sooner, more protective equipment available in hospitals, and doctors becoming better able to treat the virus. However, the virus still can have long-term effects.

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