8/20/2020 BOARD OF HEALTH Minutes

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and the schools have narrowed down their search to two products,one that uses citric acid with a five-minute contact time,and one with hydrogen peroxide and a one-minute contact time. The Board of Health was also brought in on the discussions about how to treat cohorts of students when it comes to contact tracing.The original safety standards put out by DESE had the entire "cohort" of students, which in an elementary setting means the entire classroom, would be considered close contacts for tracing purposes. That changed this week after DESE and DPH collaborated on some of the discrepancies pointed out between the DESE standards and CDC and DPH standards.Now,only students that are within six feet of one another for 15 minutes or longer during the infectious period are considered close contacts, which is in line with public health standards. In the most recent school committee meeting, our VNA representative, Meg Payne, was present to provide further insight into the tracing process in the event that a student were to test positive. In addition, the original DESE guidance allowed students and staff members that were close contacts of confirmed positive cases to come back to school immediately after receiving a negative test result, even if they had not fulfilled the CDC and DPH standard of quarantining for 14 days.That has now changed in the most recent update to require the full 14- day quarantine before the student or staff member can return to school,since COVID-19 can take up to 14 days to incubate before the person becomes infectious. Mr.Harrington stated that,while these items represent the bulk of our discussions with the school district and DPW, we also advised about face coverings, mask breaks, staff meetings,the use of fans,and protocols for the use of outdoor spaces. Currently,the reopening plan offers options to parents of children in the different schools based on the ability of the classrooms/buildings to accommodate the spacing requirements. Pre-K through Grade 2 students at KC Coombs School are offered either 100%in-person or 100%remote learning. Grades 3-6 are offered 100% in-person, hybrid learning with 1 week in-person and 1 week remote in alternating weeks, or 100% remote learning. Grades 7 through 12 are offered either hybrid learning or 100% remote. All schools have chosen to spaces the desks 6 feet apart, even though they could space them as close as 3 feet apart and still meet DESE standards. All schools will require children and staff to wear face coverings, except during snack time, lunch time, mask breaks,or if the person has a medical exemption with a doctor's note. Chair Baumgaertel inquired about what calculations were used to determine the number of kids that can safely fit into a classroom, and asked if DPW plans to boost custodial staffing at the schools. Mr. Harrington answered that classroom occupancy was based on minimum distance between seating, and advised Board members that the schools added extra custodians for both the day and evenings shifts. Mr. Harrington will follow up with the DPW director to determine how many additional custodial staff were being added. Chair Baumgaertel asked if the students would be changing classrooms, and if schools intended to have the students do their own disinfection of desks. Mr. Harrington answered in the affirmative. He stated that the use of hydrogen peroxide base disinfectant was key because grades 4-12 will be doing their own disinfecting of desks. The lower grades will stay remain in the same classroom throughout the day. Mr. Harrington was asked to inquire with the schools about spacing on busses. Chair Baumgaertel applauded Mashpee for putting so much thought and effort into the re- opening plan, and went on to ask if the school had considered how they would respond if they saw a sudden jump in transmission rates. Mr.Harrington stated that Mashpee currently has low community transmission working in our favor but,under the new guidance,a response plan would 7