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NATICK – Last week a parent in the Natick school community was suspected to have been exposed to COVID-19 and was directed to self-quarantine by the Board of Health.
Last week, the family proactively pulled their children from the school while they awaited the status of one parent’s test results, which returned as a presumptive positive COVID-19 diagnosis on Sunday.
A presumptive positive diagnosis (or case) is a positive test result at the state lab that is still in need of confirmation by the Centers for Disease Control.
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Since the family-initiated quarantine, the students have remained at home, in quarantine, with their family.
As of late Monday night, the Board of Health was notified that the students have also been found to be presumptive positive cases of COVID-19.
“We wanted to alert the community that this had occurred, but also to reinforce that the status of Natick High School has not changed,” said the Health Director and Superintendent of Schools Nolin.
“The status of Natick High has not changed because the children were quarantined prior to the affected parent receiving their COVID-19 presumptive positive diagnosis. In addition, Natick High was cleaned on Friday and Saturday, with typical use cleaning protocols, and was again disinfected using a deep disinfection protocol with enhanced equipment on Sunday,” wrote the two Natick leaders.
“The presumptive positive students have not been in contact with any students or staff since their family-initiated quarantine in the week prior to the situation coming to our attention. The family has been monitored by the Natick Board of Health and contacts of the presumptive cases have been and will continue to be monitored in accordance with Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MA DPH) and Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines,” wrote the two Natick leaders.
“Due to the family-initiated quarantine of the students and the proactive cleaning measures taken last week, the status of Natick High School remains open and unchanged,” wrote Nolin and Health Director Jim White.
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Additionally, there is no different guidance about school events or field trips from MA DPH or CDC. We are now canceling out-of-state travel at this time in response to the Governor’s guidance. At this time, we will run events and trips in-state as usual, understanding that parents may make decisions for their children’s participation. I will work with school principals to determine any changes as we move through the next few weeks. A good rule of thumb for these events is to keep the sick, elderly, and health compromised away from large events for their protection,” wrote the two leaders.
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