20 • COMMUNITY ADVOCATE • Friday, September 17, 2021
COMMUNITY SCHOOLS Shrewsbury notes COVID-19 cases in schools By Laura Hayes Senior Community Reporter
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SHREWSBURY - There have been 17 cases of COVID-19 among Shrewsbury Public Schools staff and students since the start of the school year, Superintendent Joseph Sawyer wrote in a Superintendent’s Update on Sept. 10. That marked an increase from Sept. 8 when Sawyer presented the cases to the Shrewsbury School Committee. At that point, there were eight cases among Shrewsbury students. “We’re trending very proportionally with the number of cases in town,” Sawyer said Shrewsbury students filed into the new Beal School on the first day of classes earlier this month. oncepts during that meeting. tal Group The most recent data provided by the town as of Sept. approximately 6,070 stuten thousandths of one perof over 6,000,” Sawyer said. 10 indicated that there had dents in the Shrewsbury Pubcent to 13 thousandths of one “So, I think that it’s important Revised been 57 cases since Sept. 3. lic Schools. percent in terms of the positivto keep that in context.” Contextualizing the data, “Out of 6,070 students, ity when you talk about seven Sawyer said that, accordSawyer noted that there DENTAL are that ranges from about five to or eight students out of a total ing to state data, there aren’t as many COVID-19 cases in GROUP younger age groups statewide compared to older age brackCosmetic & Restorative Dentistry | Periodontics | Orthodontics | Dental Hygiene | Implants | Root Canals | Oral Surgery | Pediatric ets, such as those in the 20-29 We accept most insurance plans age range. DENTAL No Insurance, no problem. He said Shrewsbury’s 14Ask about our smiles savers plan! GROUP day positive test rate is 2.34 Now accepting MassHealth (in Northborough office only). percent for the weeks of Aug. A BEAUTIFUL SMILE SAYS A LOT ABOUT YOU. LET US HELP YOU cherish it. 14 to 28. Dr. Nikhil Dr. Archana Lavana Karkhanis - Lavana The district’s primary goal lavanafamilydental.com 318 Main St., Suite 180 | Northborough BDS, DMD BDS, DMD ecific Logos: *With purchase of regular cleaning at same visit. is to provide full-time and inperson learning for students NEW PATIENT EXAM & with minimal disruptions. NEW Creating BITEWING X-RAYS The district is using mitigaPATIENT Healthy Smiles tion strategies to minimize SPECIAL ONLY $1* the risk of catching the virus, DENTALThrough DENTAL DENTAL Call today for your FREE consultation Sawyer said. GROUP GROUP GROUP Science and All students and staff are ZOOM WHITENING of Paxton We use Invisalign® of Gardner Northborough wearing masks while they’re for Teens, Adults & Artistry $ in school and on the bus, said little smiles. All Covid-19 precautions are taken forStylized safety of theTaglines: patients. Director of Nursing Noelle
Freeman, noting that the state mandate for masks runs through at least Oct. 1. “We will be re-evaluating those things as we get guidance from state and federal authorities and watching all the statistics on what’s going on in Shrewsbury,” Freeman said. Freeman reviewed the COVID-19 symptom list and various mitigation measures the district is taking. This year, there are exemptions to people who have to quarantine, such as for fully vaccinated individuals, people who are masked and three or more feet away, people on the bus and individuals who have had COVID-19 within the last 90 days. “[That] is a good thing because we’re having to quarantine less people, but it does make it a little more complicated,” Freeman said. Those exemptions have affected contact tracing in the schools. Freeman said, in one case, a person at Oak Middle School tested positive. Lunch and six classrooms were contact traced, and 21 contacts were identified. Three had to quarantine because they were less than the three feet distance or within six feet without masks. One of those people, who was unvaccinated, had contact at lunch. Ten were exempt because they were masked and over three feet away, while another eight were exempt from quarantine because they were vaccinated.
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