MANALAPAN – Deputy Mayor Susan Cohen, who serves as Manalapan’s public information officer, has reported the township has one presumptive positive case of COVID-19, that of a 53-year-old male who is hospitalized.
“Our health officer has made requests to the state health department to have additional family members tested,” Cohen said in a message on March 12.
The deputy mayor said that with the growing concerns about COVID-19 (2019 novel coronavirus), Mayor Jack McNaboe met with local school administrators, the township’s Office of Emergency Management coordinator, the police chief, health officer, health staff and administrative staff.
Cohen said Manalapan officials were informed the Government Public Health Partnership, which is comprised of all Monmouth County health officers, the Monmouth County superintendent of schools (who represents the New Jersey Department of Education) and other school superintendents in the county would meet on March 13 to assess the situation.
The Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District is operating on a four-hour schedule today, March 13, according to information posted on the school district’s website.
Cohen said school district administrators “have cleaning and sanitizing protocols in place and have increased building sanitizing to include sanitizing of school buses twice a day. At this time, it is a parent’s prerogative to keep a child home if it is felt best for their family. School officials noted that truancy will not be enforced, but a child home for any great length of time could result in the need for additional instruction.”