Several schools in Massachusetts, including one in Boston, were closed Thursday due to concerns about the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The Eliot K-8 School in Boston's North End was scheduled to be closed for the next week to disinfect the facilities after a woman who had entered the school tested positive for COVID-19.
Officials believe the woman went into one of the school's three buildings – the lower building – which houses kindergarten and first-grade students. The school is not sure if she went into any other buildings.
Health officials are asking anyone who has been in one of the three to avoid public places until March 19.
"Our public health nurses... they’ll do contact tracing figure out who they were around what parts of school they were in so they can figure out who they were engaged with," said Marty Martinez, the head of the health and human services department.
In Wilmington, schools were closed Thursday after a parent of two students experienced COVID-19 symptoms.
Public schools in Framingham were also closed after dozens of students at Potter Road Elementary were exposed. Eighteen adults and 77 students were exposed, according to mayor Yvonne Spicer.
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Schools, libraries and parks and recreation activities were all closed or canceled in Somerville through Sunday after the board of health was informed of a third presumptive positive case of the virus.
One involves a parent of a West Somerville Neighborhood School student, who is the spouse of a teacher at the school. The second involves the parent of an East Somerville Community School student. The third case is in a male Somerville resident, the town said.
All three cases appear to be linked to the Biogen conference in Boston in February.
