Town Of Canton: Superintendent Of Schools Message

Press release from the Town of Canton:

1/10/2022

01/10/2022 Update:

I hope you and your family had a great weekend! I'm writing with an update on COVID Health Metrics in our Canton Schools and the Farmington Valley. This update contains the most recent data from the Farmington Valley Health District (FVHD) which I received today.

Case Rates

As of January 1st, there was an average positive case rate of 94.7 individuals per 100,000 over a two week period in Canton, up from 60 individuals, the week ending December 25th. In the Farmington Valley, there was an average positive case rate of 110.3 individuals per 100,000 over a two week period. Over the last two weeks, including the winter break, there were 121 individuals within the Canton Public School Community that tested positive: Thirty-six (36) at Cherry Brook Primary School; Twenty (20) at Canton Intermediate School; Twenty (20) at Canton Middle School; and Fifty - Five (55) at Canton High School. During this reporting period, case rayes almost doubled within the Farmington Valley. The age 4-17 year old age group accounted for 19% of reported cases in the two weeks ending January 1st. The 20-39 year old age group accounts for the largest percentage of reported cases (36%) in the two weeks ending January 1st. Hospitalizations in Hartford County increased by 56% in the last 7 days with 401 new hospital admissions, however, the Farmington Valley Health District states that this is likely driven by the significant number of cases as opposed to the severity of the variant. The Omicron variant was found in 91.5% of the recent cases. Omicron became the dominant variant in Connecticut in four weeks.

In the Farmington Valley:

- 19% of total reported cases are in individuals ages 4-17 years old

- 36% of total reported cases are in individuals ages 20-39 years old

- 27% of total reported cases are in individuals 40-59 years old

- 11% of total reported cases are in individuals 60 and older

N-95 Masks and Home Test Kits

Last week, the State of Connecticut provided a limited supply of N-95 masks for staff use which were made available last Monday as well as a supply of home test kits for students and families. If your child has developed COVID-19 -like symptoms or has been identified as a close contact - having a known exposure to someone with COVID-19, your school nurse can provide you with a test kit for use at home. Many families have asked what to do when a sibling tests positive. This case would be the same as your child being identified as a close contact. The attached Farmington Valley District COVID-19 Decision Tree for Pre-K -12 Students, updated on January 5th, is helpful in determining next steps for both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. Please don't hesitate to contact your child's school nurse or Diane Sodaro, District Nursing Supervisor, at dsodaro@cantonschools.org if you have further questions about this guidance.

Vaccination

The CT DPH continues to stress that the most important mitigation strategy is vaccination. In order to quickly determine the extent to which quarantining is required for close contacts to a positive case, we will be asking students to share their vaccination cards with us. This is not mandatory nor a requirement for attendance by students, but is a strong recommendation from the Farmington Valley Health District. This information will be kept confidential by the school nurses and only accessed for contact tracing purposes when necessary.

If you would like to to share evidence of your child’s vaccination status to assist in possible future contact tracing, please send a hard copy or email/fax an electronic copy to Diane Sodaro at dsodaro@cantonschools.org or fax 860-693-5837.

Screen and Stay

Recently, Governor Lamont shared information regarding the “Screen and Stay” program brought forth by the CT Department of Health to assist with school-based quarantines. Please note that this strategy is confined to certain circumstances, within the schools.

Students and staff who are not fully vaccinated may remain in school after a close contact, provided:

• The only contact occurred during the school day (no extracurricular or social contact)
• If indoors or on a school bus or other transportation, both the contact and the case were masked during exposure
• During brief unmasked periods (e.g., mask breaks, snack time, lunch) where 6' or more of space was maintained
• If outdoors, masked or unmasked but staff supervised (e.g., mask breaks, PE, recess)
• Contact remains asymptomatic (any symptoms revert to regular isolation/quarantine)

Scenarios that would not support a Screen and Stay approach:

• Contact with a case during interscholastic or other athletic activities (other than during supervised PE)
• Contact occurring during social interactions or similar activities outside of school
• Contact where the case or contact is not consistently and correctly wearing a mask indoors (e.g., eating, wind instrument playing) and 6' of distance is not maintained
• Household contacts (i.e., the contact lives with case)
• The contact cannot consistently and correctly wear a mask (and cannot be provided appropriate alternative protective strategies) or cannot perform daily symptom screening

Students in the Screen and Stay protocol will be required to affirm

• That they have read and understand the Screen and Stay Requirements
• That they intend to screen for symptoms each day prior to school for 14 calendar days
• That they intend to remain home and notify the school if symptoms develop

Screen and Stay applies to in-person learning only, and regular quarantine procedures should continue to be used for athletics, extracurriculars, and other activities outside of the school day.

It is important to note that this protocol is optional for staff/students/families. Close contacts may opt to quarantine at home if they prefer.

While the process may be a bit cumbersome for those families, we are pleased that we have one more tool at our disposal to keep students engaged with in-person learning.

For additional information, please feel free to review this linked document from the Connecticut Department of Public Health.

As any additional information becomes available, we will be certain to provide it to our community.

Mask Wearing

The Governor has issued Executive Order No. 14 extending the mask requirement. Masks remain required for all individuals indoors in schools and whenever students are riding the bus through February 15, 2022. Students are not required to wear masks when outside (ie... recess or outdoor instruction). If there are any changes, the district will communicate them in a timely manner. Please continue to send your child(ren) to school with a clean mask each day. There are extremely rare conditions where a child would qualify for a mask exemption. When this occurs, other mitigation strategies are put in place for the child.

CIAC Mask Guidelines for Student Athletes

The CIAC is mandating mask wearing for all athletes participating in basketball and indoor track. You can read the details in the attached memo sent to schools

CIACMemoUpdatedWinterSportMaskGuidance12-22-2021.pdf

COVID Decision Making Tree for PreK-12 Schools 01-04-2021 v5 (1) (1).pdf

Please contact Jon Bishop, jbishop@cantonschools.org, District COVID-19 Liason or me if you have any questions.

Stay well and have a great week!

Sincerely,
Kevin Case
Superintendent of Schools

This press release was produced by the Town of Canton. The views expressed here are the author’s own.