The Woodbridge School District has closed four schools following a rash of COVID-19 cases among students and staff.

The students will now transition to remote learning. School officials made the decision after 36 students and staff members contracted the illness. The schools are Pennsylvania Avenue School, Mawbey Street School, Kennedy Park School and JFK High School.

Superintendent Dr. Robert Zega said in a letter to parents, "We knew our transition to our hybrid schedule would not be easy. We know that if the number of cases in our community increases, the cases in our schools would increase proportionately."

The district had moved to a hybrid learning schedule only two weeks ago. The four schools will be remote until Nov. 9.

Gov. Phil Murphy noted Thursday that 25 schools statewide have had cases of the virus, with 111 students and staff affected. The governor noted that only eight counties in the state have not had any outbreaks.

"Every case is important. We take every one of them deadly seriously. We remain confident we have the protocols in place to protect the health and safety of our schools,” Murphy said.

New Jersey has seen a spike in COVID-19 cases over the past few weeks. State officials announced 1,182 new positive cases of the virus on Thursday.