9.9.2021
Dear Brewer Schools’ Families & Staff,
We received notice from the Maine Center for Disease Control (MCDC) that Brewer High School (BHS) has been qualified as having an official COVID-19 outbreak. This MCDC designation means three people associated with the school have had a case over a fourteen day time period.
However, we have now had 8 positive cases emerge for people who are regularly present at BHS. In one case, though there's no way to be sure, it looks like the virus may have been passed between two people while they were at school. The others appear to be cases that were contracted out in the community. Any contact tracing has happened. Our total number of folks out due to being a close contact is lower than it would have been last year thanks to vaccination and universal masking rules in place this year. Masking doesn't eliminate all quarantining, but it has reduced it at both our Community School and Brewer High School.
While we're seeing school districts around the state going remote for some days to short circuit the spread of this Delta variant, we remain open for in-person education at this time. I will keep you updated should anything change.
I am deeply appreciative that families have been continued to screen their students at home and having held them out of school if their student(s) appear symptomatic. That has helped tremendously in the early going, and I recognize the sacrifice it often requires.
Regardless of any spike in cases, Brewer schools remain among the safest places for students to be during the pandemic. We are in the business of making life difficult for the virus through testing, mask wearing, and upgraded ventilation and filtration among other key practices.
Like last year, we will keep you informed. You are all a big part of that as you help us adhere to our keys to safety in Brewer Schools, 2021-2022 and one important safety factor is having the school department be transparent with our staff and families.
Symptom Screening
Everyone must have a self-check for symptoms of COVID-19 before walking through the schools doors. These include fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting or diarrhea
Anyone with symptoms from the Pre-Screening tool must report these to the school nurse and not be present at school. If they are already at school they will wait in a clean room that has already been identified for this use until the person can be picked up by a parent or guardian. If the person is already at home they will stay there and the symptoms should be called into the school nurse as well as any medical doctor or practice who the family sees.
Here is information on what it means to be in quarantine, and if someone in the household needs to be tested we strongly recommend getting that done in a timely manner.
Stay safe. We will be in touch to update you on any further developments.
Sincerely,
Gregg Palmer, Superintendent of School
he/him/his