Arlington Health Department Reports COVID-19 Cluster at St. Agnes School

ARLINGTON — Public Health Director Natasha Waden reports that the Arlington Health Department is closely monitoring a cluster of positive COVID-19 cases at St. Agnes, a private school in town. 

As of Tuesday, Dec. 1, there are nine individuals from St. Agnes School on Medford Street who have active cases of COVID-19 and are self-isolating at home. The Arlington Health Department has been working closely with school officials to ensure all students and staff who are close contacts to any of the positive cases are identified so that they may quarantine and get tested as necessary. 

All close contacts will be contacted by the school or local public health officials. If you are not contacted, you have not been identified as a close contact and do not have to quarantine. 

The cluster is isolated to one classroom, and all the students and staff in that classroom have been asked by school officials to get tested for COVID-19 before the school’s scheduled return to in-person learning next week. 

The affected grade transitioned to remote learning on Nov. 21 in response to one positive case and the need to quarantine close contacts. The remainder of the school has also held remote learning this week, however. The school is currently scheduled to return to its full in-person learning model on Monday, Dec. 7.

Residents are reminded that free testing for COVID-19 is available through the state’s Stop the Spread initiative, and the nearest testing sites are in Everett and Chelsea. For more information, click here. 

The Arlington Health Department offers the following additional COVID-19 reminders: 

• Wear a mask in public at all times. 
• Practice social distancing and maintain six feet of distance from those you don’t live with.
• Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly with soap and water, and use hand sanitizer when soap and water are not readily available. 
• Avoid touching your face.
• Indoor residential gatherings in Massachusetts are currently limited to 10 people. Outdoor residential gatherings are limited to 25 people. All gatherings must end by 9:30 p.m.
• Staying home and observing the holidays with those in your household or hosting a virtual celebration are the best ways to protect yourself and others from COVID-19. Additional guidance for celebrating the holidays amid COVID-19 is available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention here. 
• Massachusetts travel restrictions require that anyone visiting Massachusetts from states other than Hawaii either quarantine for 14 days upon arrival or produce a negative PCR test result from a sample taken within 72 hours of arrival. Visitors from Maine or New Hampshire arriving after 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 21, are subject to quarantine and testing restrictions. All travelers arriving from states designated as high risk by the commonwealth, including Massachusetts residents returning home, must also fill out a travel form. For more information, click here.

To review the state’s most recent gatherings order, click here. For the latest updates on COVID-19 case numbers throughout the state, resources, guidance and state orders, visit the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s website here.

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