LYNN — While Lynn Public Schools prepares to launch its state-sponsored “Test and Stay” program and pooled, weekly COVID-19 testing, some parents are getting confused with the schools’ policies around contact tracing.
Last Friday, Valentin Grandoit learned that his son might have come in close contact with a schoolmate sick with COVID-19. The children were playing outside. Later, Washington S.T.E.M. Elementary School identified four children as “close contacts” to the sick child out of everybody who played outside during recess.
Grandoit received a request to sign consent forms for rapid testing of his son for seven days; alternatively, he could quarantine him at home. Grandoit didn’t think his son was at risk for close contact, and he questioned why only four children were selected for daily testing.
Anthony Frye, principal of the Washington School, said that the decision was made by the school nurse who was following guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Patrick Tutwiler said that the district is currently following the state guidelines for rapid testing “at minimum.”
“Based on what they (nurses) learn about how the students are interacting, they may, out of abundance of caution, recommend testing even if students are outdoors in a particular situation,” Tutwiler said.
DESE guidelines do define close contacts as individuals who have been within six feet of a COVID-19 positive individual while indoors, for at least 15 minutes during a 24-hour period.
The guidelines prescribe that if close contacts do not exhibit any COVID-19 symptoms, they can stay in school, provided that the family consents to seven days of rapid testing. Close contacts should also wear a mask or maintain three feet of distance from other individuals when they cannot wear a mask.
The document has a stipulation that “in some cases, individuals may be asked to follow specific testing and quarantine-response protocols (including durations for quarantine/isolation) provided by contact tracers or local health officials, which may differ from the recommended protocols below.”
CDC guidelines for non-classroom environments (like cafeterias, libraries, gymnasiums, athletic fields, school buses, or other outdoor spaces) say that the person is a close contact if they were less than six feet from the infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more, regardless of mask use.
Tutwiler said that parents should call the Health Services Department at the Lynn Public Schools central office whenever they have questions.
Meanwhile, last week DESE released the number of positive COVID-19 cases per school district.
Lynn Schools reported 10 COVID-19 cases among its students and five cases among staff for the period of Sept.13-Sept.15.
Tutwiler said that these numbers absolutely raise concern.
“We need to remain vigilant and cautious,” he said.
However, he pointed out that the Lynn school district has 16,317 students and about 2,200 staff members.
“From that standpoint the numbers are small, but we continue to actively promote our layered strategy to make sure that students are able to attend school safely and that we are moving quickly whenever there is a determination of a positive case,” Tutwiler said.
Tutwiler said that in only two cases transmission potentially happened in school.
While schools have had rapid COVID tests since last year, the district is preparing to start the state-sponsored “Test and stay” program and weekly COVID pooled testing in early October.
“It is a major program that involves a lot of staffing and coordination of consents from families,” Tutwiler said.