A paraprofessional at the Early Childhood Center in Quincy, Massachusetts tested positive for coronavirus.
Students who were in the classroom are now told to be tested and quarantined for 14 days.
Three other faculty members who also had close contact are told the same thing.
They are all part of the special education program that will take place this summer.
“Masks were being worn,” said Ruth Jones, Quincy’s public health commissioner. “Sometimes, it is difficult, particularly with students with special needs, for the masks to remain, particularly with younger children.”
At North Quincy High School, where the special education program is also held, a teacher also tested positive.
Five students and another staff member are told to take an exam and to be quarantined.
“This is something that we will study very closely just to make sure we were doing everything that we should have been doing,” Jones said. “Do we have to change the protocols when we talk about classrooms?”
This could be an indication of what is to come if students and teachers return to school in September.
“We have to live with the fact that if we go back to school in person, we will have to do a number of quarantine procedures,” said Dr. Joshua Barocas, an infectious disease physician at Boston Medical Center. . “This is how people will feel comfortable sending their children.”
Bring Kids Back, a Massachusetts coalition of parents, is pushing for a full return to class.
“We don’t close a school every time a child tests positive for the flu or strep,” said Flavia Benson, mother and member of the coalition. “We cannot continue doing the same with COVID. We have to go beyond this and understand that this is something that has happened and will not disappear. And it will change our lives forever.”
Doctors and medical experts consider the new coronavirus to be more dangerous than influenza and other seasonal diseases because humans have no immunity, cause serious complications in a broader range of the population, and, when left unchecked, send so many people to the hospital They are overwhelmed medical systems.
At Quincy High School, an administrator who worked in the building this summer also tested positive.
Three other people who also work in the building are asked to remain in quarantine for 14 days.
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