Virus cases at schools grow

28 total incidents include 4th-, 5th-grade outbreaks


With 18 students contracting the coronavirus in November, there have now been more confirmed cases in the first three months of this school year than there were during the entire 2020-21 session.

Ken Duva, the superintendent of schools, believes it has to do with increased socialization outside of school rather than the protocols inside the buildings.

“I can say with confidence that many of these cases originated outside of school through normal social events and activities,” he wrote in a Nov. 19 letter to parents. “This is no one’s fault. We are all trying to live life and get back to some type of normalcy and have our children participate in regular activities. However, it comes with risk and we need to be careful, be aware and follow known health procedures.”

The district, as of Wednesday morning, has had 28 confirmed cases of COVID-19 this year, including 23 students. There were 21 total confirmed cases in 2020-21. After-school activities have been postponed until January, including the holiday concerts and transition day for eighth-graders.

“Implementing stricter guidance, postponing events, and pausing school programs are not decisions we make lightly,” Duva wrote in the letter. “We carefully analyzed the data we had on our cases, conducted thorough studies of each case, and identified any connections between the cases.”

The outbreak was traced to Nov. 9-10 when seven children tested positive, including four fourth-graders. “After careful evaluation and contact tracing,” Duva determined the fourth-grade cases were linked, and the entire grade was required to stay home for distance learning from Nov. 12-18.

The Rhode Island Department of Health defines an outbreak as two or more linked cases of the virus. Duva said socialization during Halloween partly was responsible for the outbreak, and the department’s director, Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, corroborated this notion. During a press conference Wednesday morning, she said coronavirus cases after the holiday doubled with children ages 5-9 and tripled with children ages 10-14.

To curb the spread of the virus following that outbreak, Duva enacted stricter protocols. Students in grades K-6 have been prohibited from eating lunch in the cafeteria; instead, they are now eating in their homerooms.

Moreover, while recess was broken up into grade levels at the beginning of the year, the outbreak has caused the district to separate recess time among individual classes. So, for example, the three first-grade classrooms are now having three separate recesses instead of one recess for the entire grade.

Students in the seventh and eighth grades are exempt because they are eligible to be vaccinated. Students ages 5-11 are scheduled to receive their second dose during a clinic Dec. 9 at Melrose School, and they will not be considered fully vaccinated until two weeks after that shot.

A second outbreak in the fifth grade was identified during the same week the fourth-graders returned, and the grade was ordered to stay home Nov. 22-23. The grade has since returned, but individual students who tested positive only were eligible to return 10 days after their first symptoms appeared.

Heading into the Thanksgiving break, Duva pleaded with families to exercise caution in an attempt to avoid another post-holiday surge.

“We truly wish all of our families and staff a holiday weekend full of joy, relaxation, and lasting memories,” he wrote in a Nov. 23 letter to parents. “I am hoping for the day that this type of community update will not have to be sent out to all of you. However, we are still dealing with COVID challenges in our school community.”

In the letter, Duva asked families to gather outdoors or in ventilated areas, and urged them to get a COVID-19 test before Thanksgiving events. He also recommended a PCR test upon return for any students who traveled out of state.

The plea appears to have worked. On Nov. 29, when students returned from Thanksgiving, they were all tested, and no one was positive.

“We were holding our breath,” Duva said, “but that was very good news.”

Although the current statistics for vaccination rates among students are not reliable because Jamestown has not received data from the state since Nov. 11, Duva said his district is doing well in that category based on anecdotal evidence.

“More and more people are talking about it,” he said. “Parents are telling us that their children have been vaccinated, and kids are wearing their stickers to school.”

Alexander-Scott said the vaccines “are our very best tool.”

“Vaccination continues to be extremely critical,” she said at the press conference. “If there is a child in your life, please get that child vaccinated.”