NH district tells students who traveled to Italy to stay home amid coronavirus concerns

Thirty-five Kearsarge Regional High School students and staff members who traveled to Italy during February vacation are being asked to stay home for the next week due to coronavirus concerns.

© File Image Coronavirus

The students made stops in Italy, France and the United Kingdom during the trip to Europe, the school district said.

"Although COVID-19 is present in Italy, students were in the Lombardy and Veneto region of the country for a very brief period of time and there is no indication that the students were exposed to the virus," Superintendent Winfried Feneberg said in a statement.

But Feneberg said that "out of an abundance of caution" he's asked the students and staff not to return to school until March 9. By that date, 14 days will have passed since the students were in Italy.

The students will be able to complete some school work remotely.

"We are utilizing Google Classrooms, Skype, Facetime and a bevy of other tools to ensure that the students who are returning from abroad are able to continue their studies with as minimal an impact as possible," Feneberg said in the statement.

On Sunday, Italian authorities announced that the number of people infected in the country soared 50% to 1,694 in just 24 hours, and five more people had died, bringing the death toll there to 34. The death toll worldwide reached 3,000.

Rhode Island on Sunday announced it's first presumptive positive case of the coronavirus. The person who tested positive traveled to Italy in mid-February.

There have been no coronavirus cases reported in New Hampshire.

This report includes material from the Associated Press.

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