17 quarantining after student tests positive for COVID-19

EAST HAVEN — A total of 17 people have been put in quarantine as a result of a student at Joseph Melillo Middle School testing positive for COVID-19 Monday, school and East Shore District Health Department officials said Friday.

That includes 10 people based on close contact in the school and seven based on information related to events over the weekend outside of school, Superintendent of Schools Erica Forti said.

It was the second reported instance of a confirmed case of COVID-19 in the East Haven Public Schools system. A student tested positive Sept. 22 at Momauguin Elementary School.

Neither school closed as a result, Forti said.

Forti, who identified the person who tested positive only as a member of the

Melillo Middle School community, said she sent a letter to parents and other members of the school community earlier this week.

East Shore District Health Director Michael Pascucilla identified the person who tested positive as a student.

Both said the fact that people are in quarantine is a good thing done for protective reasons.

“Just because you have a lot of people quarantining doesn’t mean you had a lot of contact in a school setting,” Forti said.

“Mike and his team are incredibly helpful” in the reopening of the schools, she said. “They err on the side of caution, always.”

Pascucilla said the reason the two schools in East Haven haven’t closed is because both the number of cases and the number of hospitalizations in the town still are relatively low, and because health department staff working with school staff have been able to successfully contact trace to determine with whom infected people had contact.

The same is true in Branford and North Branford, which the health department also covers, Pascucilla said in a Zoom meeting that included Forti and Branford Superintendent of Schools Hamlet Hernandez.

The reason they’ve been able to successfully contract trace “is because of all the planning that we’ve done and all the policies and procedures that me and my staff have put in place ... working with school staffs ... working with Hamlet and Erica’s staffs,” Pascucilla said.

There also has been no need to employ additional cleaning procedures “because we’re already doing it,” employing “policies and procedures that were put in place” over the summer, he said.

Hernandez said “quarantines show that schools are working hard to prevent” further spread of the virus. “It’s a protective measure that’s actually working.”

North Branford has had a total of 6 cases in its school system— four students and two staff members — including three announced earlier this week, officials have said. At least three of them were members of the girls field hockey team.

Together, the cases have caused at least 39 students who were potentially exposed to be put in protective quarantine.

Branford has had one case at Branford High School, later identified as a student member of the soccer team. It resulted in the entire soccer team being placed in protective quarantine and the cancellation of at least two soccer games.

Hernandez and Forti both said that an important thing they’re doing in their schools is creating a culture of safety.

Hernandez said that when the Branford High School case first was reported, “we didn’t contract with someone to do enhanced cleaning overnight” because it already was being done.

“We do do it in hightouch areas,” he said. “I think those things speak to creating a culture of safety ... for mask wearing, social distancing” and maintaining “a level of awareness.”

Forti said that what she and her staff employ is “a combination of all those health, welfare and safety strategies,”

But Pascucilla said that school and public health officials need cooperation from students, parents, teachers and staff to keep people safe.

“We need help ... and it kind of goes beyond just wearing face coverings and doing social distancing,” Pascucilla said. “People need to be mindful” of what they’re doing, he said.

“On the weekends, they’re getting together and they’re not observing the rules,” he said. “We can’t control what’s going on in the home” and people need to maintain their own level of vigilance, Pascucilla said.

“It’s no secret, our numbers are going up,” he said. “We are seeing more cases. ... The numbers going up in Connecticut. The only way we can continue to keep safe” is “when people do their part.”

As flu season approaches, he also urged all residents to get a flu shot.