Village Elementary School has seen a drop in its recent spike of COVID-19 cases that caused nearly 30% of its students to be quarantined last week.
A vaccination clinic for students ages 5-11 is scheduled for next week at the school and at others in town.
The number of active COVID-19 cases at Village dropped to 13 Tuesday after rising to 18, according to Superintendent Heather Perry. She predicts the number of cases “will drop again significantly” at the end of this week.
More than 120 Village students were quarantined last week, representing 28.9% of the 415 fall enrollment. As of Tuesday, 33 students were quarantined.
The school was closed Nov. 1 to make changes in pandemic safety protocols in the cafeteria. Two lunch periods were added and dining tables were replaced with 100 individual desks and chairs. Some furniture also was removed from classrooms to allow for additional spacing, Perry said.
The school was placed on outbreak status on Oct. 28.
“The phrase ‘outbreak status’ sounds scary, however it is a specific community-health term used when there are three or more epidemiologically linked, confirmed cases from different households during a 14-day period in a single setting, in this case a school,” Kelli Deveaux, communications director at Maine Department of Education, said in an email to the American Journal.
The town’s other schools have not seen a similar spike in cases. Great Falls Elementary School had one active case on Nov. 8 and Gorham Middle School had two. Narragansett Elementary School had five cases on Nov. 9 and Gorham High School had two.
Gorham schools will host COVID-19 vaccination clinics for ages 5-11 next week. The clinics are set for 8 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 17, at the middle school and 10 a.m. at Great Falls Elementary; 9 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 18, at Narragansett Elementary and 11:30 a.m. at Village Elementary.
A second series of vaccination clinics will be conducted in December.
School Committee Chairperson Darryl Wright reported to the Town Council Tuesday that school officials are targeting a clinic participation rate of 75%. Fully vaccinated students, based on current CDC rules, “will no longer have to quarantine as close contacts” when COVID cases arise, he said.
More than 2,000 schoolchildren have gotten their first doses of COVID-19 vaccine since those 5-11 years old became eligible a week ago, according to state data released Tuesday.
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