Salem Officials Talk Masks, Tests, Vaccines, Return To Classrooms

SALEM, MA — Salem school and health officials held a virtual forum with families this week where they provided information on return-to-classroom coronavirus protocols and answered questions ranging from coronavirus testing procedures, vaccinations, lunch and mask-break protocols and how long might students be wearing those masks inside school buildings.

The 90-minute forum began with Superintendent of Schools Steve Zrike going through some of the recent School Committee votes to approve the indoor mask mandate in school buildings regardless of vaccination status, the teacher and staff vaccination mandate that requires them to produce proof of vaccination or test twice weekly and a vaccination mandate for students 12 or older in "high-respiration" extracurricular activities that requires them to either be vaccinated or also wear a mask outdoors while participating in sports, band, chorus and drama, as well as provide proof they have consulted with a health profession on vaccinations.

"We don't want them to miss out on these critically important activities," Zrike said of the extracurricular protocols, "but we also want to make sure they have all the information they need to make the best decision they can on getting vaccinated or not."

Salem Public Schools will hold its next vaccination clinic at the Saltonstall School on Saturday so students who got their first shot at the Aug. 7 clinic can get a second shot. Students who get a first shot of the Pfizer vaccine on Saturday will be able to get their second shot in school in three weeks.

Parents will be able to give their consent electronically in advance for students to receive the vaccination shot.

Many Mask Questions

Masks were a big topic with Salem pediatrician and schools adviser Dr. Clovene Campbell advising not to get hung up on getting an N-95 or KN-95 mask and that "a well-fitting mask is the most important thing."

Salem Director of Nursing and Public Services Charlene Moske-Weber said the school will have "lots and lots of children's surgical masks" at the buildings, if needed, and that cloth masks should be washed each night to keep them clean and comfortable for students.

"Masks are one component of our mitigation strategy," Salem School Committee member and Salem State Professor Dr. Kristin Pangallo said. "They are an important component, but only one. We never rely on any one measure to be 100 percent at any point.

"By having everyone in a mask, that’s a layer of protection. The ventilation, the filtration, all the other pieces we are talking about tonight ... them are all working together is what is protecting us."

Other Mitigation Measures

Many of the same safety measures — such as masking, sanitizing and the use of well-ventilated and outdoor spaces whenever possible — will be in place this year, while others that were found to be less effective — such as partitions — will not. Social distancing will be maintained at 3 feet indoors when unmasked inside school buildings in Salem, although it is no longer required under the most recent Department of Elementary and Secondary Education guidelines.

Campbell said temperature checks — which were often used in businesses and schools early in the pandemic — are also impractical and ineffective.

"A lot of people with COVID do not have an elevated temperature," she said. "It might make some people feel better, but it's not useful."

Pangallo said the contagiousness of the delta variant means students and staff have to be extra vigilant this year.

"The difference this year is that there is less room for error," she said. "That something we are all thinking about, we are concerned about and we're all very aware of. The same strategies are going to be in place. We have improved some of them.

"We're really emphasizing to you, our families at home, our students and our staff that we really need to be aware of this and be aware that our margin of error is smaller. Coming back from this summer when we’ve been able to relax some of these restrictions a little bit because we’ve had much lower case counts, we had lower less to worry about and we've been outside, a lot of the adults are vaccinated, it is really on us to be aware and to be ready to really get into these mitigation strategies again."

Short-Term Remote Learning

While extended remote learning is not allowed this year under DESE guidelines, Zrike said that option will be provided short-term to any student out of school because of a positive coronavirus case or quarantine.

Salem will use the state's "Test to Stay" program to help students avoid the extended quarantines that caused so much disruption last year. Under the new program, a student who had an in-school positive exposure can remain in school as long as they test daily for five days, test negative in a rapid test and remain asymptomatic.

Chief of Opportunity and Resource Chelsea Banks said Salem's testing procedures are "designed to minimize disruption."

Protocols Face Uncertain Duration

Banks said the schools will make use of outdoor spaces for lunches and mask breaks whenever possible at least through the fall while the weather is tolerable.

She said decisions on how some of that might be altered for winter will be made when necessary.

"If I've learned anything working here for the last 13 months it's that by the time it's cold here (the virus situation) might be different," she said. "Snow is not my highest-solution problem to solve right now.

"When the snow comes, the world might be different."

Pangallo noted that the School Committee's vote on the indoor mask mandate means that it will be in place — unless rescinded — even past the state's Oct. 1 checkpoint when reaching vaccination thresholds could ease those requirements for many schools.

As far as how long the masks will stay on in schools, Campbell tried to paint a realistic picture.

"That's a tough question but an important question," she said. "There is a lot of conversation going on at different levels about whether medical providers should mask from the fall all the way to the spring every single year because of the significant reduction of infection that we found (last year) when people were masked and the rise in infections when the mask mandate was lifted.

"I certainly don't want elementary students to be masked indefinitely. But in Asia, they wear masks all the time, and they're trying to teach us that it's not such a bad thing."

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(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.)

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