Twelve students and one teacher at Amherst Central High School are in voluntary quarantine after a recent trip to Italy, one of the countries that has been hit hardest by an outbreak of the new coronavirus. The Buffalo News reports the trip was part of a long-standing exchange program with a school in the northern Italian city of Bolzano. The group also visited Florence and Rome during their travels from Feb. 5 to Feb. 22.
The Centers for Disease Control issued a travel warning for Italy on Feb. 28, after which Amherst Superintendent Anthony Panella says he contacted the Erie County Department of Health to make them aware of the trip. The health department recommended a 14-day home quarantine from the students’ return date. However, they had already been back in school by then for more than a week.
The students and teacher began the home quarantine Wednesday, according to a letter from Panella posted on the district website Thursday. He also says no one who was on the trip has displayed any symptoms associated with the new virus.
If no symptoms arise, Panella expects that the students and staff will be cleared to return to school at the end of the quarantine period, which ends Sunday.
