Taking Their Shot: Vaccinations Growing Among Melrose Schools Students, Staff

MELROSE, MA — Almost two-thirds of Melrose Public Schools employees have reported being vaccinated against COVID-19, Superintendent Julie Kukenberger revealed during last week's School Committee meeting.

Kukenberger said in the Sept. 14 meeting that 407 of 631 — or 64.5 percent — district staff members said they had been inoculated. That doesn't mean the rest are necessarily unvaccinated, but rather could have not yet reported their vaccination status.

"The majority of our staff are fully vaccinated or on their way to being fully vaccinated," Kukenberger said.

Of the 3,844 students in district, 590 reported being vaccinated as of last week, but Kukenberger said state data indicates that number is higher. She said almost 80 percent of high and middle school students reported being vaccinated.

"So depending on the building we're anywhere from 45 percent to 65 [percent] — 66 percent is our highest participation rate so far," the superintendent said.

Nearly 350 district workers consented to participate in COVID-19 testing, and 1,721 students got consent by their families to be tested. Those numbers are also rising as access to an online portal expands.

As of Monday, there have been 14 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the school community. According to district data, 12 students have tested positive, mostly at the elementary level, while two fully vaccinated staff members also tested positive.

In most cases officials haven't had to worry about much contact tracing. Seven of the 12 student cases occurred in students who had last been in school more than three days prior to testing positive, with one student not even having started school yet. Three of the students tested positive within 24 hours of their last time in school.

COVID-19 has had an immediate impact of the school community. Two classes quarantined after positive cases on the second day of school.

The state's first COVID-19 count of the school year had 1,420 positive cases in the classroom — a much higher number than the final report of the last school year.

Mike Carraggi can be reached at mike.carraggi@patch.com. Follow him on Twitter @PatchCarraggi and Instagram at Melrose Happening. Subscribe to Melrose Patch for free local news and alerts and like us on Facebook.