Coronavirus: Milton Schools Cancel Events, Parent Conferences

MILTON, MA — All school concerts and parent-teacher conferences in Milton are being postponed or canceled through March 20 as Milton Public Schools look to limit large, public gatherings amid coronavirus concerns. Superintendent of Schools Mary Gormley said on Tuesday that field trips scheduled for the next 10 days will be reviewed on an individual basis and the school is awaiting guidelines on athletic events with spring season practices set to begin next week.

Gormley said there have been no confirmed cases of coronavirus in the town as of Tuesday and that full-day school will continue as scheduled.

"Increased testing of Massachusetts residents is beginning, and the expectation is that we will see more positive test results in the region," Gormley said. "As a district, we cannot stop the transmission of Coronavirus COVID-19. Our goal is to be proactive in hopes that we can delay and slow progression of Coronavirus COVID-19 in our schools, while remaining focused on providing your children with an exceptional education every day. We recognize that this is only possible if we are providing a safe and healthy environment, and we are implementing measures to help maintain our safe environment by limiting — not eliminating — contact between people."

She said calls between parents and teachers will be encouraged in lieu of the face-to-face conferences and that e-mail correspondence will temporarily replace principal discussions with the community. She said the policy will be reassessed on March 20.

The Harlem Wizards basketball game scheduled for Tuesday night, which is not a school-sponsored event, will be held, but that those who feel sick are asked not to attend. SAT tests will be held as scheduled on March 14. Those who volunteer at the schools are encouraged to continue to volunteer as long as they are feeling healthy.

She said handshakes and unnecessary physical contact is being advised against for the time being.

(More on the coronavirus can be found in this fact sheet from the CDC.)

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that include the common cold as well as much more serious diseases. The strain that emerged in China in late 2019, now called COVID-19, is related to others that have caused serious outbreaks in recent years, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the U.S. was on Jan. 21.

The disease, which apparently originated in animals, is now transferring from person to person, although the mechanism is not yet fully understood. Its symptoms include fever, coughing and shortness of breath, and many patients develop pneumonia. There is as yet no vaccine against COVID-19 it and no antiviral treatment.

According to the CDC, the best way of preventing the disease is to avoid close contact with people who are sick, to avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands, to wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, and to use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol if soap and water are not available. To avoid spreading any respiratory illness, the CDC recommends staying at home when you are sick, covering your cough or sneeze with a tissue and throwing the tissue in the trash, cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched objects and surfaces.

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