Wakefield Schools Change Some COVID Protocols, Keep Others

WAKEFIELD, MA — The district is sticking to state guidance when it comes to COVID-19 protocols, even as some other districts around it make adjustments.

Superintendent Doug Lyons appeared before the School Committee Tuesday night to give an update on the pandemic coming out of winter break.

He said Wakefield Public Schools will be adjusting its contact tracing protocols due to the overwhelming number of positive cases pouring in. Nurses will be prioritizing cases that could impact the district's most vulnerable students and instances where there are multiple cases in a classroom.

"I want to be clear, we are not stopping contact tracing," Lyons said. "We will continue to contact trace."

But that's the only change the district is making at this time.

Lyons was asked if he was considering any of the changes Melrose's School Committee approved this week. Melrose tweaked some of the isolation and quarantine guidances recently implemented by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, as well as the definition for fully vaccinated.

DESE issued a rather controversial update to the guidelines on Dec. 30, blindsiding districts over winter break as COVID-19 cases continued to surge thanks to the omicron variant.

The changes in Melrose are as follows:

• For those who test positive for COVID-19: Self-isolation is doubled from five to 10 days after symptom onset or a positive test if asymptomatic. Students can still return to school after five days if they have been without fever for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication and test negative with an antigen test at school, but a positive test between Day 5-10 will keep students out until Day 11. (DESE doesn't require testing to return.)
• For those who are symptomatic: Students can return to school if their symptoms have resolved (not just improve,) have received a negative PCR test (not just an antigen test) and have been without fever for at least 24 hours without fever-reducing medication. In sticking with DESE guidance, people who are symptomatic who are not close contacts and choose not to receive a COVID test can return to school after at least five days, if they show an improvement in symptoms and have been without fever for at least 24 hours without fever-reducing medication.

Lyons said he is trusting families to keep their kids home when appropriate.

"So for me, a lot of this is about mandates," he said. "I think people need some latitude, right? They need to be able to make decisions that are good for their family, and we will support them the best we can."

Melrose and Wakefield share a health director, who pushed for changes in the neighboring city.

Lyons noted that nine of the 12 districts in the Middlesex League are aligned with the protocols Wakefield will be following.

Also in Melrose schools, effective March 1, the definition of fully vaccinated will change to include only those who have received a booster shot, received two doses of Pfizer or Moderna in the past six months or received a Johnson & Johnson shot in the past two months.

Lyons said Wakefield is sticking with the current guidance from the Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"The thinking there is that that would increase access to schools, both for personnel in regard to staffing, but it would also increase access and opportunities for kids to continue to stay in school for longer amounts of time," he said. "I agree with that. I think that that's reasonable."

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