As the number of COVID-19 cases in the state continues to climb each week at a faster pace than the week before, town and school administration have not yet asked everyone to put their masks back on. Instead, in town buildings, recommended masking has morphed into “strongly recommended.” In the elementary school, nurses are working diligently to identify which classrooms might be responsible for any rise in case numbers there so the school can implement “targeted remasking” in just those classrooms.
Data from the schools is currently providing the most accurate picture of COVID-19 cases in town. Parents report their children’s positive at-home test results to the school, and the case counts it posts each week on the Harvard Public Schools website include those results, unlike the state-reported case numbers. School data also gives the Press a more up-to-date representation of the direction cases are going, since the state’s municipal case report comes out each Thursday after the paper has gone to press.
Last week, there were 49 students out of school with COVID-19, 35 at Hildreth Elementary School and 14 at Bromfield. Letters were sent to all HES families recommending temporary masking and requiring masks in the six classrooms with the most COVID cases and for all adults in the elementary school. This week, the number of students out with the virus fell to 32. School Superintendent Linda Dwight said she attributed targeted remasking for at least some of that drop in cases. Only seven of the 32 cases were picked up by the schools’ pooled testing; the remainder were reported as a result of at-home testing.
Higher school case numbers introduced a new wrinkle for the Bromfield prom planned for May 20. On May 16 school administration notified all students planning to attend that they will be expected to take a rapid test (provided by the school) on Thursday or Friday prior to going to the prom Friday night. If they test positive, they should report the result to school officials, and they should not attend the prom. According to an email from the principal of Acton-Boxborough Regional High School to ABRHS students, that school’s prom held on May 6 was at least partially responsible for an increase in cases in the high school the following week, with more than 30 prom attendees testing positive.
Town OK with unmasked protocol
Town Administrator Tim Bragan told the Press that while the town has no masking requirement for town buildings, it is strongly recommended. He added that if case numbers continue to rise the town will reassess its policy. Council on Aging Director Debbie Thompson said the COA follows town recommendations, but she said events are being held outdoors on the Hildreth House porch whenever possible. Masks are still required on the COA vans.
Last week the library changed the signs on its doors from “masks encouraged” to “masks strongly recommended.” Masks are required in the children’s room, as they have been since the library reopened its doors last year. Library Director Mary Wilson told the Press she is watching the case count in Harvard’s schools closely, and if the numbers remain high, the library may impose a mask requirement for the entire building.
Board of Health Chair Libby Levison said the board is keeping an eye on case numbers at its biweekly meetings, but remasking has not been discussed at recent meetings, nor at last week’s Massachusetts local boards of health’s weekly call with the Department of Public Health. But she said both Fivesparks and Warner Free Lecture asked her last week if the Board of Health was considering revising its masking policy for public buildings. She told them no but advised them to keep all windows open during events.
