Westmere Elementary has first COVID-19 case, FMS has a fourth case

by Melissa Hale-Spencer

The Enterprise — Michael Koff
Making a grand entrance: A student with a sparkling pink skirt and matching hair bow is helped into her backpack as she prepares to enter Westmere Elementary School this past September. 

GUILDERLAND — A fourth and fifth case of COVID-19 within a week were announced on Monday by the Guilderland Central School District.

This makes 20 cases for the district so far this school year.

One of the positive tests is the first case for Westmere Elementary School.

“All individuals have been contacted and advised on the need to quarantine. In-person instruction has continued as planned,” wrote Superintendent Marie Wiles of Westmere in an email to GCSD families on Monday evening.

The other new case is at Farnsworth Middle School. Farnsworth has had three cases announced previously this school year.

“Based on preliminary information from the Albany County Department of Health, no other individuals from FMS need to quarantine at this time,” wrote Wiles.

In a press conference on Friday morning, Albany County’s health commissioner, Elizabeth Whalen, urged parents, “Work with your kids.” Parents need to reinforce for their children the importance of keeping a distance, not gathering in groups, hand-washing, and mask-wearing.

“It’s not an easy time for kids,” said Whalen.

As Albany County, like the rest of the nation, is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases, Whalen said earlier that about 15 percent of the county’s COVID-19 cases in the last two months had come from students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

Whalen urged parents to keep their children home when they are sick and to get them tested. 

This month, Albany County launched two testing sites — one of them in Voorheesville — where students with symptoms like coughing and running a fever, who are therefore excluded from classes, can get tested for COVID-19. Appointments are coordinated through school nurses.

The state’s COVID-19 Report Card, as of Monday evening, had not yet listed the new cases at Farnsworth Middle School or Westmere Elementary nor did it list the case at Lynnwood announced on Nov. 27 or the cases announced Saturday, Nov. 28, at Farnsworth and Guilderland Elementary.

The case at Guilderland Elementary School created a staffing shortage, Wiles said, so kindergartners through fourth-graders at that elementary school are learning remotely, starting today, Nov. 30. In-person classes at Guilderland Elementary are set to resume on Wednesday, Dec. 9, Wiles said.

The district’s earlier cases included two students at Altamont Elementary School — those cases were in September — as well as one student at Lynnwood, three cases at Farnsworth Middle School of one student and two teachers, and nine cases at the high school of six students and three staff members.

In addition to its middle school and high school, Guilderland has five elementary schools: Altamont, Guilderland, Pine Bush, Lynnwood, and Westmere. Only Pine Bush Elementary remains untouched by coronavirus disease 2019.

Tags: 
coronavirus

More Guilderland News

  • Appeal heard: Can Pyramid acquire roads for Costco by eminent domain?

    The lawsuit, filed by three of the petitioners involved in the four previous unsuccessful suits, seeks to annul the Guilderland Industrial Development Agency’s August 2023 decision allowing Pyramid to acquire by eminent domain the roads on the proposed Costco site, at the corner of at the corner of Western Avenue and Crossgates Mall Road.

  • Tacos Diablo brings Mexican street food to Guilderland

    Chef Dominic Giuliano grew up in Southern California, two hours from the Mexican border, which gave him the opportunity to explore and fall in love with food he found off beaten paths in both places. Now, he’s bringing that cuisine to Guilderland’s Hamilton Square with Tacos Diablo, having built up a customer base through his first location in Nassau.

  • Complaints made by or about library café released, racism not revealed

    Among the sheaf of documents, largely made up of emails, the only one that might be interpreted as involving racism was written by Melanie Diaz Partak on Jan. 29, 2024, about a month before the café’s closure, asking if there was “any word on whether or not the woman who came in and verbally attacked me has been identified or banned?”