By Chay Masagca
EBC Washington DC Bureau

(Eagle News) — Eleanor Roosevelt High School and College Park Academy, both in Maryland, will be closed today and tomorrow as a precaution against COVID-19. This comes after Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) was notified yesterday that a person affiliated with both schools had come in close contact with an individual who traveled to a country with a high-risk COVID-19 warning. The schools will be cleaned and disinfected as Prince George’s County Health Department conducts an investigation on the case to keep the public safe and healthy. Students and staff are set to return on Monday, March 16, 2020.

Meanwhile, schools all over Maryland are intensifying measures to fight COVID-19.

In Prince George’s County, schools have started to allot times during the day for the young children to wash their hands and remind older students to adopt the same practice. Sick students are no longer required to submit a doctor’s note for absences of more than three days but a note from parents with their contact information will suffice to make the absences valid.

In Charles County, the Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) is cancelling out -of-state field trips and is limiting business travels of employees outside Maryland starting today, March 12, 2020. CCPS is also conducting additional cleaning in buildings, especially in schools where there are higher records of absences. Emergency plans which include how to provide academic and food services to families, if needed, are being reviewed and updated.

As in other schools and agencies, parents and staff are being informed of preventative measures against the virus, including frequent hand-washing and covering coughs and sneezes. College of Southern Maryland in La Plata is set to move to online classes starting March 16 in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19. No confirmed cases of the disease in Charles County has been reported as of this writing.

(Eagle News Service)