A high school in Delaware is closing its doors for the next two weeks after a COVID-19 outbreak.
Woodbridge High School is shifting to remote learning after positive coronavirus cases prompted the district to close campus as a safety precaution. Woodbridge was one of the few Delaware school districts that started the year with in-person learning and is now the first district to close a school as a COVID-19 safety precaution.
With campus closed, all of Woodbridge’s fall sports — football, volleyball, boys soccer, field hockey and cross-country — are suspended and are not allowed to practice until further notice. Woodbridge’s football team was slated to begin its season on Friday night, but its game was abruptly canceled following campus closure.
RELATED: New Jersey high school suspends athletics indefinitely
“I’m sitting out here as kids pull in, telling them the game is canceled,” Woodbridge football coach Jed Bell said, per Delaware Online. “It’s heartbreaking. My kids are just devastated.”
The Woodbridge High School campus is expected to re-open on Nov. 9. If that timetable holds true, its football program, a perennial Delaware contender, will be unable to play its first three games of 2020, leaving it with only four games on its schedule.
According to the Delaware Division of Public Health, 24 students and 75 staff have tested positive for COVID-19 in Delaware public schools. 54 students and 26 staff have tested positive in private schools.