GREENFIELD — As COVID-19 cases continue to rise locally and statewide, the city’s public health officials are once again recommending that residents wear masks when indoors in public places.
The Board of Health also voted Monday evening to recommend that Greenfield School Department administrators communicate to their schools that if there are two or more children in a classroom that test positive for COVID-19, to inform parents and guardians that all children in the classroom must mask for a minimum of 10 days, unless a new positive case is identified.
“We weren’t really having classroom spread before,” said Board of Health member Samantha McIver. “Now it’s more isolated with classroom spread.”
Public Health Nurse Meg Tudryn said there is an outbreak at the Discovery School at Four Corners in two particular classrooms, with at least 11 positive cases in one classroom and nine in another.
“They have 32 positives in that school for the last few days,” Tudryn said. The school has 237 students, according to data from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).
Newton School also has an outbreak in one classroom, Tudryn added.
“All of our schools have elevated numbers,” she said.
Health Director Jennifer Hoffman said her department has been working closely with Superintendent Christine DeBarge.
“She’s very much in support of masking in the classrooms … that have multiple children (who are close contacts),” Hoffman said.
Hoffman relayed that DeBarge doesn’t want to mask the entire school but “she is clear that the classes that have more than two or three children,” she’d be “more than happy” to have them wear masks.
“They’re probably all close contacts if that many people in a classroom are positive,” Tudryn added.
Pooled testing also is continuing at the schools, McIver said, noting she thinks it would be helpful to urge families once again to opt-in to the weekly testing program.
The citywide mask mandate was last lifted in mid-February, although masks were required in Greenfield schools until early March.
Overall, Greenfield has seen close to 500 positive cases in May, if at-home tests are included, according to Tudryn. Officially, as of Monday, there have been 93 confirmed cases since the start of May through MAVEN, the state’s software for tracking PCR-confirmed tests.
“We have 11 hospitalized today, one in the ICU,” Tudryn told the Board of Health. “All but one are fully vaccinated.”
Board of Health Chair Nancee Bershof noted that the majority of patients who are hospitalized are vaccinated because the majority of the people in the community are vaccinated. Although she said she isn’t advocating for a mask mandate, she did note that other cities have recently instituted mandates, and some colleges are sending students home early to complete their classes remotely.
Hoffman said some businesses in the community have already started to recommend their patrons wear masks, such as Stop & Shop.
“I think people are starting to hear it and know what to do,” she said. “I think us saying something is helpful, because people do listen.”
Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne