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Jewish preschools respond quickly, keep positive cases of coronavirus contained
Bay Area NEWS | EVENTS | PEOPLE
Jewish preschools respond quickly, keep positive cases of coronavirus contained
GABRIEL GRESCHLER | J. STAFF
On the evening of Friday the 13th this month, Rabbi Yonatan Cohen of Congregation Beth Israel in Berkeley got a knock on his door.
Standing before him was a member of his staff, who had come to report that a parent whose child attended the synagogue’s preschool, Gan Shalom, had tested positive for the coronavirus. Beth Israel is a Modern Orthodox synagogue, and since it was Shabbat, Cohen had to make a decision about whether Sabbath laws could be suspended in accordance with pikuach nefesh — the principle that the preservation of human life overrides almost any religious rule.
Cohen chose to break Shabbat, using electronics to convene an emergency meeting with his staff, who determined that they would notify community members on Shabbat morning.
“If you wait 24 hours, you are also going to erode trust,” Cohen told J. “By communicating swiftly, we’re affirming values that we stand for. The mitzvah at that moment is the sanctity of life.”
In accordance with Alameda County guidelines, Cohen began a two-week quarantine of one of the two learning pods at the preschool. The school’s director, Emma Schnur, had the space deep-cleaned over two days.
Although others in the affected family tested positive, the rest of the Gan Shalom community received negative test results.
“This was bound to happen,” Cohen said of the positive case. “And there is no blame. It could’ve happened to anyone.”
While most high schools remain closed in the Bay Area, preschools, like elementary schools, may open if the administration demonstrates to public health officials that they have a plan to lower the risk of spread among students and staff.
Even early in the pandemic, as of May 31, there were more than 33,000 child care facilities open across the state, according to the California Department of Social Services. Many local synagogues and JCCs are running preschools even while in-person events for adults are on hold.
Children can get Covid-19 but are less likely to develop serious symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Protection, and have relatively low hospitalization rates. In total, only about 7 percent of reported coronavirus cases in the U.S. were found in children under 18, according to the CDC. And researchers believe children under 5 are less likely to spread the virus than adolescents or adults.
Gan Shalom is not the only Jewish preschool that has dealt with a positive coronavirus test. In interviews with seven Jewish preschools in the Bay Area, J. learned that three had at least one confirmed positive coronavirus case in their communities. Two others said they had close calls, where a community member tested negative after coming into contact with someone who had tested positive.
In Oakland, a child at Temple Beth Abraham’s preschool tested positive for coronavirus in mid-October. However, that child hadn’t been at school for a week, so the possibility of an outbreak was low.
“The exposure was questionable,” said Rachel Fenyves, the director of Beth Abraham’s Gan Avraham preschool. “But we treated it as an exposure. We quarantined
their class for 14 days.”
Like at Beth Israel, Fenyves had the school deep-cleaned for two days and required that everyone get tested, including the families of the children who attend the preschool. Luckily, the virus did not spread beyond the one child and their family.
“If or when we have another case, I feel more prepared to handle it,” Fenyves said. “I learned more about communication. I learned about what the community needs.”
But she also said the situation was “really stressful” for the teachers.
“There was lots of anxiety going around,” she said. “If this happens again, what can I do for the community? For the staff?”
To prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Jewish preschools have adopted tactics similar to those being used by Jewish day schools. Every Jewish preschool is using the “pod” model, in which a dozen or so children are placed with two or more teachers. None of the pods intermingle. Parents drop off their children at the front of the school and
aren’t allowed inside. Children’s temperatures are taken and they are escorted to classrooms where the windows are kept open for ventilation.
However, the pandemic is creating hurdles for preschools that day schools aren’t facing.
The most apparent is a precipitous drop in enrollment reported by four of the Jewish preschools, a phenomenon that is being experienced nationwide, according to the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Right before the pandemic hit, South Peninsula Hebrew Day School had 91 children attending its early childhood program in Sunnyvale, according to head of school Rabbi Perry Tirschwell. That number has dropped by roughly a third, he said.
“People made a cost-benefit analysis,” Tirschwell said.
Fenyves also reported a similar drop in
Preschoolers at the Addison-Penzak JCC summer camp. (Photo/Courtesy APJCC)
“If you wait 24 hours, you are going to erode trust. The mitzvah at that moment is the sanctity of life.”
