Salanter Akiba Riverdale Academy, in the Bronx, N.Y., closed on Tuesday morning after the parent of one of the students tested positive for the coronavirus.
Two other nearby Jewish schools, Westchester Day School in Mamaroneck and Westchester Torah Academy in White Plains, also closed as a precaution.
In a press briefing on Tuesday morning, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that the infected Westchester man is a 50-year-old who works in Manhattan and recently traveled to Miami. “The gentleman has an underlying respiratory illness he is ill and is hospitalized.”
In a letter to parents, officials at Salanter Akiba Riverdale Academy said the school was being closed “for precautionary measures. At this time, it [sic] important to remain calm and to please continue following precautionary measures … .” At the direction of New York State, Westchester County Health Commissioner Dr. Sherlita Amler has directed that Young Israel of New Rochelle halt all services immediately and for the foreseeable future due to potential COVID-19 exposure connected to the man who tested positive. Additionally, congregants who attended services on Feb. 22, as well as a funeral and a bat mitzvah at the temple on Feb. 23, must self-quarantine until at least March 8.
Those who do not, she said, “will be mandated to by the County Department of Health to do so.”
