Stoughton Coronavirus: Schools Update Prevention Plans

STOUGHTON, MA — Superintendent John Marcus provided an update on how the Stoughton School District plans to respond following growing concern surrounding the new coronavirus. Classes are still resuming as scheduled, and the district is continuing with added health precautions including extra cleaning, extra hand washing and insisting sick students or staff stay home. The district also laid out plans for temporary closures in case a student or faculty member tests positive for COVID-19.

"If a staff or student tests positive (or presumptive positive) for COVID19, as per DESE and DPH guidelines, we will close the school right away, alert families and do a high-intensity cleaning of the building," Marcus said in a statement. "Because we have so many connections across our schools, we would also close the rest of the buildings for the same time period, likely one day. Quarantining of affected students and staff would begin at that time and last for 14 days."

Marcus said the district is also planning for a potential long-term closure, and all districts will be ready if this is needed.

"We recognize that families need to make important decisions about attendance, and we will make adjustments for individual circumstances as needed," Marcus said.

School Activities:

Regular school activities, rehearsals, club and athletic practices that are attended by students and staff will continue as scheduled, or until further notice. All international and out-of-state travel is canceled indefinitely, with the exception of a grade eight trip to Washington D.C., which the travel company gave school officials until early April to make a final decision. All other field trips are postponed until the end of March.

Beginning Friday, all gatherings that bring in visitors or spectators (such as parents and grandparents) are postponed through the end of March. The district will re-evaluate in two weeks.

Athletic practices will begin, but scrimmages with other schools will not happen. Additional information on actual games will be coming out shortly.

All outside rentals of school buildings are canceled indefinitely. Re-scheduled school events will need to take priority.

Cleaning:

All school buildings will close at 6 p.m. each night to give cleaning crews additional time to clean and disinfect facilities.

More info on Coronavirus:

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.

As of Wednesday there were 95 cases of coronavirus in Massachustts, including 23 in Norfolk County.

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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 percent 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.

See more on Massachusetts Coronavirus coverage:

• MA Coronavirus Cases Hit 95, More Than 1,000 Quarantined
• MA Coronavirus Cases Hit 92 As State Of Emergency Declared
• Coronavirus: MIAA Scrambles To Finish Basketball, Hockey Playoffs