Peabody Urges Cooperation With Contact Tracers

PEABODY, MA — Peabody Mayor Ted Bettencourt urged residents to answer calls from contact tracers in tying the ability to keep students in school to residents' willingness to quarantine if public health officials direct them to do so.

Peabody High School switched to remote learning for one week this week because of the high numbers of students and faculty either testing positive for the coronavirus or in quarantine because of being a close contact with someone who has tested positive.

Bettencourt said the reluctance of some to cooperate with contact tracing efforts puts all in-classroom learning in jeopardy.

"Thus far, the aggressive protocols and precautions we have in place within the Peabody Public Schools have enabled us to continue offering a hybrid learning model," he said in a message to the community. "To continue offering hybrid learning, as well as the many after-school and extracurricular programs that help our students cope during the pandemic, we must isolate positive cases quickly and conduct contact tracing to identify close contacts."

Bettencourt called contact tracing "the cornerstone of our efforts to combat this potentially deadly disease."

"If you are contacted by public health officials conducting contact tracing, please cooperate fully," he urged. "The contact tracing process is confidential. Cooperation with public health officials to prevent the spread of disease is required by state law. But, more importantly, I view it as the duty of every one of us to do our part to protect the health and safety of our fellow residents."

Did you find this article useful? Invite a friend to subscribe to Patch.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

More Patch Coverage: Peabody Adds 3 More Coronavirus Testing Dates

Peabody Mayor Praises City Services Amid Coronavirus Surge

Coronavirus Surge Sends Peabody High To Remote Learning