PORTLAND, Maine — Portland's East End Community School will move to full remote learning Monday after five positive cases of COVID-19 were reported at three households connected with the school.
Staff at the elementary school are among the 80 people in quarantine as a result of the outbreak, Portland Public Schools announced Sunday afternoon.
The school building is expected to reopen on Tuesday, Jan. 19, the day after the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
Close contacts have been notified and cleaning of the school has been scheduled.
Community partner programs associated with the school that offer childcare will also be closed all week.
Meals will be available for students at Portland, Deering and Casco Bay high schools and at Talbot Community School each day from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
The school district announced Friday that the Maine Department of Education continued to designate Cumberland County as "yellow," indicating an increased risk of COVID-19 spread. However, they said "the vast majority" of cases in the district originated from contacts outside of school.
All Portland public schools returned to hybrid learning on Monday, Jan. 4, following the holiday break.
As of Friday, the positive cases associated with Portland public schools, in addition to 5 cases at East End Community School, from Dec. 19 to Jan 8 included:
- Deering High School: 3 positive cases, 0 close contacts
- King Middle School: 4 positive cases, 32 close contacts
- Lincoln Middle School: 2 positive cases, 0 close contacts
- Longfellow Elementary School: 2 positive cases, 0 close contacts
- Lyman Moore Middle School: 3 positive cases, 0 close contacts
- Lyseth Elementary School: 1 positive case, 0 close contacts
- Ocean Avenue Elementary School: 3 positive cases, 0 close contacts
- Portland High School: 7 positive cases, 48 close contacts
- Presumpscot Elementary School: 2 positive cases, 0 close contacts
- Reiche Community School: 2 positive cases, 1 close contact
- Talbot Community School: 2 positive cases, 0 close contacts
A link to the district's report card on all positive cases is available here.