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10/23/2020 12:00 AMIn-person classes were canceled at Essex Elementary School on Oct. 20 due to a positive case of COVID-19 in the school community. Students learned remotely for the day, resuming in-person classes at the school on Oct. 21.
This case brings the Region 4 (R4) school district’s cumulative total of positive COVID tests in the school community to seven.
Sixty individuals were asked to quarantine for 14 days as a result of close contact with the positive case, as determined by contract tracing conducted by the Essex Health Department, Connecticut River Area Health District, and administration of the Region 4 (R4) schools.
Most individuals who are now in quarantine, 43, were associated with the school community and 17 were from outside the school community, according to Essex Director of Health Lisa Fasulo.
On Oct. 22, Fasulo reported that her office was conducting a contact tracing investigation based on a positive COVID-19 test from among the 60 individuals who were asked to quarantine. She did not indicate whether the case is a member of the school community or outside the school community.
“I really must stress the importance of complying with the quarantine,” said Fasulo. “It is used to keep someone who might have been exposed to the COVID-19 virus away from others to prevent the spread of disease that can occur even before a person knows they are sick.”
An individual who does not develop symptoms of COVID-19 during the 14-day quarantine period can return to school on day 15.
The requirements for an individual infected with COVID-19 include self-isolating for a minimum of 10 days since the positive test result and until at least 24 hours have passed without a fever and improvement of other symptoms, according to a Region 4 contact decision tree document.
As the state of Connecticut sees an uptick in COVID-19 cases, the local health departments and R4 administration are monitoring public health metrics in the community closely to decipher which mode of learning (in-person, hybrid or full remote) to deploy.
On Oct. 22, the Connecticut Department of Public Health released its weekly update of the COVID-19 Alert map by town that indicated 19 municipalities in red alert status, which means there are 15 or more daily positive cases per 100,000. Twelve of the 19 are in the southeastern portion of the state.
Both Chester and Deep River were in the second highest category, orange alert status, indicating 10 to 14 daily cases per 100,000. Essex was in the category below orange, yellow alert status, indicating 5 to 9 daily cases per 100,000.
The different categories, or colors, are accompanied by state guidance on recommended actions for various individuals, groups and institutions in a municipality. If a town goes into red alert status, and daily cases are more than 25 per 100,000, it is recommended to “consider more distance learning” for Pre-K to 12 schools.
The map is updated every Thursday and is found in the Data Tracker page of ct.gov/coronavirus.