Two schools in northeast Germany have closed due to coronavirus infections, state authorities announced on Friday. Both schools, the Ostsee elementary school and the Goethe High School, are in the state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. This was the first German state to re-open for classes, at the beginning of this week following the summer holidays. In one of the schools, the Goethe High School, a teacher tested positive for the virus but had not yet given any lessons to students, the district of Ludwigslust-Parchim, where the school is located, announced on its website. The school will remain shut until next Wednesday and all 55 teachers will be also be tested, local authorities said.
“Safety first! We will continuously inform parents, teachers and students about new developments,” Mayor Stefan Sternberg said in a statement on the district’s official website.
In the second school, the Ostsee Elementary School in the district of greater Rostock, a student tested positive for Covid-19, according to local authorities. Rostock district said in a press release that all students and staff will be quarantined.
“The students will not be going to school for a limited amount of time. Our safety concept has the aim of reacting precisely and locally to any possible infection without having to resort to large scale school closures,” Mecklenburg-West Pomerania’s Education Minister Bettina Martin said in a statement published by state authorities.
On Thursday the German government voiced concern over a recent spike in infections across the country, and urged citizens to follow pandemic rules like social distancing, mask wearing and sanitizing more closely.