This story was updated at 1 p.m. on Dec. 16, 2021, to remove a reference to Sherwood High School being one of the schools with an outbreak. Montgomery County Public Schools had originally included the school in its list, but a spokesman later said it was done so erroneously.
Montgomery County Public Schools has set a new policy for athletic teams that experience outbreaks of coronavirus, following clusters of cases on teams at five high schools.
The guidance came Monday from the county’s Department of Health and Human Services. If a team has five or more active cases, all team activities will be suspended for 14 days from the point of exposure, MCPS spokesman Chris Cram wrote in an email to Bethesda Beat on Wednesday.
Teams at Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville, Col. Zadok Magruder High School in Derwood, Poolesville High School and James Hubert Blake High School have been affected by the new guidance, Cram wrote.
Cram did not elaborate on which specific teams were affected, how many cases had been reported or when the outbreaks occurred. He did not immediately respond to follow-up questions from Bethesda Beat.
Mary Anderson, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday morning.
Paint Branch High School’s junior varsity boys basketball team suspended its activities earlier this month following an outbreak of more than 20 cases at the school, WTOP reported.
Dan Schere can be reached at daniel.schere@bethesdda-remix.newspackstaging.com