An Eastern PA School Has Already Been Shut Down Due To COVID

MT. AIRY, PHILADELPHIA — The 2021-22 school year was hardly underway before the delta variant forced local schools to shut their doors. A Philadelphia elementary school announced this week that is has suspended all in-person learning due to a coronavirus outbreak in the school's community.

Emlen Elementary School Principal Tammy Thomas said in a letter to the school community that the Philadelphia Department of Public Health determined the school building will close through Sept. 23 to help stem the spread of the virus. In the meantime, the school will shift to virtual learning. Students and staff will return to school on Sept. 24.

Thomas's letter did not say how many cases arose in the school community.

"If your child shared a classroom with any student or staff member who has tested positive for COVID-19, you will be contacted directly by the PDPH and/or the School District with important information, including the need for your child to quarantine," Thomas said. "If your child did not share a classroom with a student or staff member who tested positive for COVID-19, that means your child does not need to quarantine while at home."

It's not the first school in the region to shut its doors since schools reopened for the new year of learning just weeks ago. Lindley Academy Charter School At Birney, also in Philadelphia, is closed to in-person learning until at least until Sept. 20 due to the low vaccination rate in the area. That zip code in the Logan/Ogontz/Fern Rock section of Philadelphia, 19141, has seen less than half of its eligible population get fully vaccinated.

"Vaccinations are a critical component of slowing the spread of COVID in communities," Lindley said in a statement. "Please help us to keep the school building open for in-person learning."

The impact of coronavirus and the new, more contagious delta variant in schools has led the state to issue a mask mandate for all students and staff in all schools. The new variant impacts children in a way that earlier strains of the virus did not, health officials say. The chief goal of mitigation measures handed down at the state level was to keep children in school, Secretary of Education Noe Ortega said during a recent visit to the region alongside Gov. Tom Wolf.

"We must do everything possible to minimize the transmission of COVID-19 in our schools so they can remain open for in-person teaching, learning, and growing this year,” Ortega said at Hancock Elementary School in Norristown.

Children who are experiencing any symptoms should be tested for the coronavirus. Symptoms are fever of 100.4 Fahrenheit or greater, chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhea.

Testing locations are available online here.

Contact the Philadelphia Health Department’s COVID-19 Hotline at 215-685-5488 with concerns or questions.

The School District of Philadelphia welcomed students back to classrooms on Aug. 31. All district employees must be vaccinated, following a board ruling last month. Employees have until Sept. 30 to get vaccinated.

Those who are not vaccinated will be tested twice a week.