3 Medford School Employees Test Positive For Coronavirus

MEDFORD, MA — Three Medford school employees have tested positive for the coronavirus, Superintendent Marice Edouard-Vincent said. A new weekly report released for the first time Friday by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education showed one MPS staff member tested positive for the virus, but district officials told Patch there have been two additional positive tests.

"In the first two weeks of testing close to 300 MPS employees were tested and two employees did test positive," Edouard-Vincent said. "MPS was notified of a third MPS employee who tested positive today. All contact tracing work has been completed and a small number of MPS staff are quarantining at this time."

The district is testing employees weekly through a partnership with Tufts University and Armstrong Ambulance.

High needs students have been the only group to return to in-person learning so far. The plan is to start phasing in hybrid learning this month, with kindergarten students starting next week, followed by first grade, second grade, sixth grade and 12th grade the week of Oct. 13, and grades 7, 8 and 9 the week of Oct. 19. Tenth and 11th grade will not return until November.

Edouard-Vincent said administrators' "top priority" is the safety of students and staff.

"MPS will continue to follow the guidance of public health officials in order to keep students, staff and members of the MPS community safe and healthy," she said.

DESE data showed 63 students and 34 school workers across the state tested positive between Sept. 24 and Sept. 30. The DESE report will be updated each Thursday for the rest of the school year.

Medford has held steady with a percent positive rate well below the threshold health officials recommend for restrictions to be eased. The city's percent positive rate was 0.36 percent as of Wednesday, according to the latest town-by-town data released by the state. Health officials say positive test results need to stay below 5 percent for two weeks or longer and, preferably, be closer to 2 percent, for states to safely ease restrictions.

The state continues to label Medford a "yellow" community, a designation given to cities and towns that average 4-8 cases per 100,000 people daily.