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.
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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:
- Affton School District
- Archdiocese of St. Louis Schools
- Bayless School District
- Brentwood School District
- School District of Clayton
- Ferguson-Florissant School District
- Hancock Place School District
- Hazelwood School District
- Jennings School District
- Kirkwood School District
- Ladue School District
- Lindbergh Schools
- Maplewood-Richmond Heights School District
- Mehlville School District
- Normandy School District
- Parkway School District
- Pattonville School District
- Ritenour School District
- Riverview Gardens School District
- Rockwood School District
- St. Louis Public Schools (including charters)
- University City School District
- Valley Park School District
- Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corporation
- 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:
