Mansfield Health Department

October 29, 2020 - Town of Mansfield’s COVID Designation Level

On October 29, 2020, the Town of Mansfield’s COVID designation level was identified as red by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in the Weekly COVID-19 Public Health Report. This means the average daily case rate over the last 14 days has been >8 cases per 100,000 population. To be more specific, in the past 14 days there have been 1873 COVID-19 tests done in the community of Mansfield and there were 29 positives. Our positive test rate in Mansfield is 1.55%.

While the rising numbers in our community are cause for concern, there is no indication that the spread has occurred within the schools or due to school activity. We are diligently following positive cases and contact test information to monitor any transmission within the schools. Based on the number of positive tests and contacts identified within the school system it is clear this has not been the case. There are no plans to change hybrid learning at this time.

Superintendent Murphy, Assistant Superintendent Connolly, Fire Chief Desrosiers, Health Agent Amy Donovan-Palmer, Director of Health Services Christine Dooling and School Committee members Lauren Scher and Linda Fernando identified parameters we need to examine for any changes in the school plan. It is important to note that these decisions need to be made based on local context, and occur in collaboration with DESE and the local board of health. The following factors will be discussed:

● If there is a need for an extensive cleaning of classrooms, sections of buildings or other facility mitigation

● If the state mobile testing unit results, or other test results, suggest widespread transmission is occurring (Mobile testing unit is deployed through DESE in response to reporting criteria)

● If there are widespread absences among students and staff due to illness or status of being a contact of a positive case

● If the school is in a district reported as “red” on the DPH health metric for the past three weeks, and risk of transmission to students and/or staff is increased

● > 1.5% positive test of total students enrolled in each school building

● > 5% positive test rate in the community of Mansfield

● Other situations deemed by public health department

There is no one threshold or metric that indicates a school or district should suspend in-person learning.