Schools in Jerusalem Shut as Dozens of Students, Staff Test Positive for the Coronavirus

Several schools in the Jerusalem area were shut on Monday, as more staff and students tested positive for the coronavirus over the past few days. The majority of them – more than 130 people – came from a single school, Gymnasia Rehavia.

One person was diagnosed in each of four other schools in the city – the Arts school, the Zalman Aranne School, the Masorti School and Paula Ben-Gurion. About 1,500 students and staff were placed in quarantine.

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Furthermore, 278 students and 35 staff members at the Ofek School in Givat Ze'ev, north of Jerusalem, were placed in quarantine and the school shut, after a teacher tested positive for the coronavirus.

A student in the northern city of Hadera was also diagnosed with COVID-19. As a result, the Interdisciplinary School announced its 2,200 students would return to remote learning in the coming days.

Coronavirus recommendations on a door in the Gymnasia Rehavia school, Jerusalem, May 29, 2020. The poster on the left says: ‘No entry for corona!’Ohad Zwigenberg

Also on Monday, dozens of students in several schools in Be'er Sheva, in Israel's south, were placed in quarantine until 9 June, following suspected cases among students and staff.

Just north of Be'er Sheva, in the Bedouin city of Rahat, 750 students and staff of the A-Noor high school were sent home after a teacher also tested positive. 

The virus outbreak in Jerusalem led to widespread absences from the city’s public schools on Sunday. The municipality announced that schools would open as usual, but several parents’ associations decided that students should not attend.