COVID

Brookline schools report 100 new COVID-19 cases in a week

Of the positive cases, 90 were people considered contagious while in school, according to the district's dashboard.

By Mia McCarthy

1 minute to read

Brookline Public Schools reported 100 new cases of COVID-19 last week, according to the district’s COVID-19 dashboard.

“While this is a definite increase in cases, it is also indicative of the seriousness with which our community has responded to the pandemic and our broad use of the rapid antigen tests, both in weekly surveillance tests and in the testing of symptomatic individuals at school and at home,” the Public Schools of Brookline Student Health Services announced in a statement.

Of the district’s positive cases, 90 were people considered contagious while in school, according to the dashboard.

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Brookline High, the biggest of the district’s schools, accounted for 40 of the 100 new COVID-19 cases. Twenty-eight of the cases were from staff, while the other 72 cases were students, according to the dashboard.

The data was reported on March 31 and accounts for all cases from March 24 until then. The week before, 74 positive cases were reported.

Students with COVID-19 are required to isolate themselves for at least five days after getting a positive test result. They may return to school if they go 24 hours without a fever and have a significant decrease in symptoms.

While masks are strongly encouraged in Brookline schools, they will now be required for students who test negative for COVID-19 but still have symptoms, as well as students coming back from isolation before day 10. Fully vaccinated individuals who are close contacts are also required to wear masks for at least five days.

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“Like always, our need to be flexible, to respond to data, and to review and revise is ongoing,” the statement said.

Brookline schools will also be encouraging hand-washing, refilling hand sanitizer, and opening windows or using portable HEPA filters, according to officials. 

Officials are encouraging parents to keep their children home if they have any symptoms without a negative test. 

“We have seen an increase in symptomatic individuals coming to school,” officials said in the statement. “It is not a time to let our guard down.”

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