Education

Quincy Kindergarten Class in Quarantine After COVID Outbreak

Students and staff in a kindergarten class at Beechwood Knoll Elementary School will be allowed to return the day before Thanksgiving, pending a negative COVID test

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Students and staff in one classroom at a Quincy, Massachusetts, elementary school will remain in quarantine for the next week due to a coronavirus outbreak.

At least seven students and staff members tested positive for COVID-19 in one kindergarten class at the Beechwood Knoll Elementary School, Principal Janet Loftus said in a letter to the school community Tuesday.

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The cases were reported over a period of four days -- between Friday, Nov. 12 and Tuesday, Nov. 16.

Parents of the other students in the classroom were notified that their students should remain home and quarantine for the next seven days, Loftus said. Students and staff in said classroom can return to school on Wednesday, Nov. 24, as long as they remain asymptomatic and produce a negative COVID-19 test result.

Loftus said she consulted with the Quincy Health Department and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health on how to handle the outbreak.      

Data on the COVID-19 cases in Quincy Public Schools show that, between Nov. 10 and Nov. 16, 18 students and five teachers tested positive. The entire district's positivity rate is around 1.85%, which is down from two weeks prior.

Meanwhile, a total of 3,021 students and staff members across Massachusetts schools had tested positive for COVID-19 as of Friday.

The latest weekly COVID-19 report from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education showed a total of 2,640 students and 381 employees tested positive between Nov. 4 and Nov. 10. The weekly report covers a timeframe of Thursday to Wednesday.

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