School COVID-Safety Recommendations from Peabody Board of Health

8/24/21

Role of Board of Health

• Boards of Health identify health priorities and promote policies to improve the health and well-being of the entire community.• Boards of Health pay particular attention to ensuring that vulnerable

segments of the community have equal access to the environments and tools they need to stay healthy. • Boards of Health may need to take action to mitigate serious health threats

by acting upon the weight of scientific evidence, even when data is incomplete or imperfect.• The Peabody Board of Health joins other community leaders in recognizing

the need to maximize in-person learning opportunities for our students as a top priority.

Big picture view

Reasons for optimism:1. Scientists have a much better understanding of the coronavirus and

how to mitigate its impact than we did this time last year.2. More tools are available to us, including greater access to rapid and

accurate testing and vaccination.3. Safe and highly effective vaccines have mitigated the risk of severe

illness and death from COVID for many in our population.4. We have experience in how to keep students in school safely by

implementing layers of mitigation strategies.

Big picture view

Reasons for caution:1. Despite last year’s successes, many students were deprived of significant in-person learning time.• Now we have a more infectious form of the virus and caseloads are increasing• Now we have more opportunities for interaction in school and in the

community• Now we are removing some of the layers of mitigation strategies (social

distancing) in order to bring all students back• Not all students are eligible to be vaccinated at this time

Peabody Daily Confirmed Cases by Date– 8/23/21

3/1/2020 4/9/2020 5/12/2020 6/16/2020 7/20/2020 8/24/2020 10/2/2020 11/4/2020 12/7/2020 1/9/2021 2/11/2021 3/16/2021 4/18/2021 5/23/2021 7/21/20210

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Average new daily case rate – 14 day incidence

15-Jul

5-Aug

22-Aug

12-Sep3-O

ct

24-Oct

14-Nov

5-Dec

26-Dec

16-Jan

6-Feb

27-Feb

20-Mar

10-Apr

1-May

20-May

9-Jun

1-Jul

22-Jul2

12-Aug

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

MA

15-Jul

5-Aug

22-Aug

12-Sep3-O

ct

24-Oct

14-Nov

5-Dec

26-Dec

16-Jan

6-Feb

27-Feb

20-Mar

10-Apr

1-May

20-May

9-Jun

1-Jul

22-Jul2

12-Aug

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Peabody

Percent Positivity, past 14 days

4-Jul 25-Jul15-Aug

5-Sep 26-Sep17-Oct

7-Nov 28-Nov19-Dec

9-Jan 30-Jan 20-Feb13-Mar

3-Apr 24-Apr13-May

3-Jun 24-Jun 15-Jul5-Aug

0

2

4

6

8

10

12Peabody MA

Week ending

COVID-19- Deaths by Age Group – 8/23/21

0-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 80+1 1 2 2 7

26

50

239

Peabody Deaths by Age Group in Confirmed COVID-19 Cases

Deaths by Age Group in Confirmed COVID-19 Cases

73%

Hospital and ICU bed capacity, 8-19-21

Hospitalization trends, 8-19-21

Peabody Cases by Age

4-14-20 12-14-20 8-17-21

Confirmed Cases by Age Group – July 18 to August 17, 2021

0 - 4 5 - 9 10 - 14 15 - 19 20 - 29 30 - 39 40 - 49 50 - 59 60 - 69 70 - 79 80 - 89 90+ 0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

15

8

46

4143

22

17 17

11

42

Occupation DataSeptember 1, 2020 to August

23, 2021

Administrative and office supportAnimal Related - Animal care and service workers

Animal Related - Farming or fishingBarber

Building Cleaning Worker (including housekeeper, custodian, janitor)Business and financial operations

Child/minor/infantComputer specialist

ConstructionCorrectional officer

Daycare worker (adult)Daycare worker (child)

Did not askEngineers (e.g., chemical, civil, electrical, industrial, mechanical)

FirefighterFood Service - Bartender

Food Service - CashierFood Service - Cook/food prep worker

Food Service - DishwasherFood Service - Food processing plant worker

Food Service - Host/HostessFood Service - Other

Food Service - Retail food worker (e.g., grocery store worker)Food Service - Supervisor/Manager

Food Service - Waiter/WaitressHair dresser

Human Services WorkerLandscaper/Grounds maintenance worker

Medical Professional - ChiropractorMedical Professional - Dental hygienist

Medical Professional - Medical assistantMedical Professional - Medical or clinical laboratory tech

Medical Professional - Nurse (NP, RN, LPN)Medical Professional - Nursing, psychiatric and home health aides

Medical Professional - Occupational therapistMedical Professional - Other

Medical Professional - Paramedic/EMTMedical Professional - Pharmacist

Medical Professional - PhlebotomistMedical Professional - Physical therapist

Nail technicianOther

PlumberPolice OfficerPostal worker

RefusedRetired

Sales and related occupationsStudentTeacher

Teacher AssistantTransportation and material moving occupations (e.g., bus driver, taxi driver, truck driver, pilot)

UnemployedUnknown

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

60316

1835

2987

6264

1728539

544347

37122018

1012

1513

68586

29

4317

1296

71411

43304

75603

6011

33221

38

Individuals subject to isolation and quarantineSchool year 2020-2021

Staff Students0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

89

655

121

932

Isolation Quarantine

Student cases by levelSchool year 2020-2021

Pre-K K-5 Middle High0

50

100

150

200

250

300

14

274

172

195

Cases

Cases

Mitigation strategies

• Promoting building sanitation and personal hand hygiene• Improving ventilation within buildings• Daily screening for symptoms• Contact tracing• Universal mask use• Physical distancing• Reduced opportunities for exposure due to reduced capacity limits in schools

and restrictions on community venues and gatherings.• Testing• Vaccination

Peabody residents vaccinated by agethrough 8/17/21

12-15 16-19 20-29 30-49 50-64 65-74 75+ Total0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

61

7067

75

8386

76

68

49

6360

68

7882

71

63

1 or more vaccines Fully vaccinated

Age group

Perc

ent o

f gro

up

Peabody residents vaccinated by race/ethnicity

through 8/17/21

AI/AN Asian Black Hispanic Multi NH/PI White0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0

64 66

52

95

0

62

0

6057

46

95

0

58

1 or more vaccines Fully vaccinated

Age group

Perc

ent o

f gro

up

% of Peabody residents vaccinated by genderthrough 8/17/21

1 or more vaccines Fully vaccinated0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

716665

59

Female Male

Perc

ent

Prevalence of Delta Variant

Impact of Delta Variant

Breakthrough cases in Peabody

• Although vaccines are highly effective in preventing severe illness and death from COVID, they are not 100% effective in preventing infection.• 28% of new COVID infections in Peabody between 5-1-21 and 8-23-21 were

breakthrough infections (109 of 391 cases). • The Delta variant seems to produce the same high amount of virus in both

unvaccinated and fully vaccinated people.• The amount of virus produced by Delta breakthrough infections in fully

vaccinated people goes down faster than infections in unvaccinated people. • This means that fully vaccinated people have the ability to transmit virus to

others, but are likely infectious for less time than unvaccinated people.

Levels of Community Transmission

• CDC recommendations for fully vaccinated people:

“Wear a mask in public indoor settings if they are in an area of substantial or high transmission.”https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated-guidance.html

Organizations recommending universal masking in schools• U.S. Centers for Disease Control• American Academy of Family Physicians• American Academy of Pediatrics• Massachusetts Medical Society• Massachusetts Academy of Family Physicians• Massachusetts Chapter of the American College of Physicians• World Health Organization

Testing

• Free testing available for all residents regularly through state-sponsored “Stop the Spread” sites. City-sponsored testing events available periodically. Next event: August 25, 4 – 7 pm at HMS.• Exploring opportunities to bring rapid antigen testing into schools to

assess symptomatic individuals and to support asymptomatic close contacts who wish to remain in school.

Vaccination

• Free COVID-19 vaccinations are widely available through pharmacies, primary care offices, and at City-sponsored pop-up clinics.• Pop-up clinics have been available throughout the summer in

downtown areas, local churches, summer events.• Pop-up clinics being planned for “back-to-school” orientation nites at

public schools. • Employers and homebound residents may request mobile vaccine

resources through the state health department.

Recommendations to keep students in school

• Continue with enhanced sanitation, ventilation, and hand hygiene• Reinforce importance of daily symptoms screening for staff and students• Adhere to requirements for isolation (if sick) or quarantine (if exposed)• Cooperate fully with contact tracing efforts• Implement in-school testing options to minimize loss of in-person

learning time• Promote vaccination for eligible staff and students• Provide distancing where feasible to minimize potential for close contacts• Require universal masking when indoors