Southborough and our public school districts are reporting relatively favorable numbers for the past week.
Town Data
As of yesterday morning, only four cases were confirmed in the prior week for the Town. That’s the lowest reported in one week since before Thanksgiving.
That doesn’t mean that only four residents are currently infected. 39 cases are still labeled as active. (The total number of confirmed cases over the course of the pandemic has now reached 503.)
The state’s risk evaluations are based on the number of cases over 14 days. As of Monday, that was 13. Looking at the figures, there’s a strong chance that Southborough will be shifted to low risk/green Thursday night’s report.
My updated graphs tracking trends in Southborough are below:
NSBORO Data
Sunday’s Dashboard for the Northborough-Southborough schools showed only one confirmed case across the three combined districts last week. More notably, the number of students/staff forced to quarantine at home was at an all time low for the school year. (And, of course, even when quarantine numbers were almost as low in mid-February, the hybrid model had only about half the students attending on any given day.)
Only 41 students/staff were kept home last week under quarantines or isolations. 37% of them were due to Travel Quarantines in the 2nd week following Spring Break.
The low was mainly due to the quarantine policy revised this spring. 39 students/staff identified under “Modified Contact” rules were able to participate in-person last week.* Under prior rules, they would have been forced to quarantine for a period of time.
Only 41 students and staff were isolated/quarantined last week. (In the 2nd week following spring break, 37% of those were due to Travel Quarantines.)
No students were screened positive last week through the school’s testing program. (The screening program is still only utilized by 53% of the student population. Far short of the 80+% goal.)
Below are charts and info from the latest Dashboard and my tracking of their data since the start of the school year.
*The Modified Contact protocol calls for those who had prolonged contact at less than 6 feet but more than 3 feet of distance to closely monitor symptoms rather than automatically quarantining. (They are also encouraged to get tested.) “Close Contact” in schools is now defined as closer than 3 feet for over 15 minutes in a 24 hour period.