St. Louis school closings during coronavirus: 5 major districts announce closure recommendations

Gatherings of more than 50 people are also banned in St. Louis City and St. Louis County.

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Amid concerns of coronavirus, or COVID-19, officials from St. Louis City, St. Louis County, St. Charles County, St. Clair County, and Madison County are recommending that public, private, charter, and religious schools in those five districts close by at least Wednesday and remain closed until further notice. The announcement was made Sunday night via a joint statement. 

St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson, St. Louis County Executive Dr. Sam Page, St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann, St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern, and Madison County Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler were the five officials to issue the joint statement. They are expected to re-evaluate the closings by April 3.

Krewson, Page, Ehlmann, Kern, and Prenzler also issued a ban on events and gatherings of more than 50 people in their districts. 

There are two cases of COVID-19 in St. Louis County, one reported on March 7 and one reported on March 13. There are currently 11 tests with pending results. Nineteen people have tested negative. 

Page tweeted: 

Krewson tweeted: 

Also on Sunday, St. Louis City and St. Louis County Schools announced a list of districts closed from March 18 to April 3. Those include: 

  1. Affton School District
  2. Archdiocese of St. Louis Schools
  3. Bayless School District
  4. Brentwood School District
  5. School District of Clayton 
  6. Ferguson-Florissant School District 
  7. Hancock Place School District
  8. Hazelwood School District 
  9. Jennings School District
  10. Kirkwood School District 
  11. Ladue School District
  12. Lindbergh Schools
  13. Maplewood-Richmond Heights School District 
  14. Mehlville School District 
  15. Normandy School District
  16. Parkway School District 
  17. Pattonville School District 
  18. Ritenour School District 
  19. Riverview Gardens School District 
  20. Rockwood School District 
  21. St. Louis Public Schools (including charters)
  22. University City School District 
  23. Valley Park School District 
  24. Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corporation 
  25. Webster Groves School District. 

You can read that statement here: 

The Ferguson-Florissant school district had announced on Saturday that it would be closing March 18–April 3. The school will be conducting online learning.

Several of the area's universities, including Washington University, Saint Louis University, and Maryville University, announced that they were either prolonging spring break or switching to online learning. 

On March 13, Illinois' Governor J.B. Pritzker closed that state's schools through March 30.

You can read the joint statement here: 

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