New COVID cases remain low in schools
GREENWICH — Greenwich schools is reporting seven new positive cases of COVID-19 since Friday, according to the district’s online tracker on Tuesday.
The new cases, which are reported by the district every Tuesday and Friday, show a downward trend in recent weeks. After a January that saw more than 130 new cases of the coronavirus, the district has reported just over 70 in February, as the end of the month approaches.
The number of schools affected is also greatly reduced. As of Tuesday, just six schools have active cases of the coronavirus — there are just 12 active cases district-wide — whereas last Friday there were 11 schools affected.
There have also been no new in-school transmissions since earlier in the month, when a cluster of cases at Julian Curtiss School caused the number of cases traced back to in-school contact to spike to 17. All 12 active cases of COVID-19 originated from outside activities or through family transmission, according to the district.
The apparent decline in cases also comes as Gov.
Ned Lamont announced Monday that teachers will be eligible to receive vaccinations beginning March 1, a move celebrated by teachers unions throughout the state, Greenwich included.
Carol Sutton, president of the Greenwich Education Association, said the immediate response from teachers was enthusiastic.
“We support anything that gets the vaccination into the arms of K-12 educators in an expeditious manner,” Sutton said Monday afternoon after Lamont’s announcement.
“The idea that it would be in special clinics and our educators will not be required to get into the myriad of choices for where to be vaccinated with others is a welcome piece of news.”
Greenwich’s public schools have been open for in-classroom learning since the beginning of the scholastic year. All of the town’s elementary and middle schools have been fully open with in-person learning.
Greenwich High School has operated on a hybrid model, with half the students in class on Mondays and Tuesdays and the other half in class Thursdays and Fridays, with remote learning on the opposite days and remote learning for all on Wednesdays.
“Obviously this is very welcome news for our teachers and staff as teaching through this pandemic has been challenging on many levels,” Board of Education Chair Peter Bernstein said Monday.
“I appreciate all of their hard work and perseverance to get us to this point in the school year and allow our students to continue in-person learning.”
Lamont said there will be dedicated clinics set up starting in March to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to pre-K to grade 12 school staff and teachers, as well as to professional child-care providers.