Planning To Reopen - Our Schools, Goals and Guiding Principals

8/5/2020 (Permalink)

This has been an unprecedented year. Wile things have improved as emergency orders have loosened, the news cycle constantly reminds us that we are not in the clear. On the contrary, one slight miss step and a new COVID-19 "hot spot" emerges on the map. For the vast majority of our "Planning to Reopen" series of blogs our main focus has been on sifting through the tsunami of information and sharing that which would best help the business owners of Commonwealth protect themselves, their employees, and their customers. We feel, now, it is time to pivot. 

As the state, communities and families struggle to understand what this all means and the best, safest, course of action to take we will be doing our best to share with our communities the most up-to-date guidance regarding best practices to reopen our school systems as safely as possible.

According to the CDC, in lieu of a vaccine or therapeutic drug, mitigation is the greatest weapon communities can wield to slow the spread of a virus with pandemic potential such as COVID-19. COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by a new, (and some data suggests evolving) coronavirus.

The following highlights CDC's recommended goals and guiding principles to be considered when formulating our plans to reopen our schools.  

NOTE: COVID-19 is highly transmissible. Individuals should follow these universal precautions regardless of the extent of mitigation needed:

1. Follow healthy hygiene practices
2. Stay at home when sick
3. Practice social distancing 
4. Use a cloth face covering (with some exceptions) in community settings when physical distancing cannot be maintained.

As always, work with your local health officials to determine a set of strategies appropriate for your community’s situation.

(See our "Planning to Reopen series of blogs for more information regarding CDC, EPA, FDA, Mass EEA and OSHA safety requirements). To review the administration's reopening guidance from the state click here. To view Governor Baker's full report click here).

Goals

The goal of community mitigation is to slow the potential spread of COVID-19 and to protect all individuals, especially those at increased risk for severe illness, while minimizing the negative impacts of these strategies. 

Implementation is based on:

1. Emphasizing individual responsibility for implementing recommended personal-level actions
2. Empowering businesses, schools, and other settings to implement appropriate actions
3. Prioritizing settings that provide critical infrastructure services
4. Minimizing disruptions to daily life to the extent possible and ensuring access to health care and other essential services.

Guiding principles

Each community is unique. Appropriate mitigation strategies should be based on the best available data. Decision making will vary based on the level of community transmission and local circumstances.

1. No one strategy is sufficient.
2. Protecting the public’s health is paramount
3. Until broad-scale testing is widely implemented or we have a more comprehensive and precise measure of disease burden, states and communities should assume some community transmission or spread is occurring
4. Mitigation strategies should be feasible, practical, and acceptable; they should be tailored to the needs of each community and implemented in a manner that minimizes both morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 and does not create or exacerbate any health disparities.
5. Community mitigation efforts must aim to reduce the rate at which someone infected comes in contact with someone not infected, or reduce the probability of infection if there is contact. 
6. The characteristics of the community and its population, health system and public health capacity, and the local capacity to implement strategies are important when determining community mitigation strategies. 
7. As communities adjust mitigation strategies, they should ensure that the healthcare system capacity will not be exceeded.
8. Precautions should be taken to protect health care professionals and other critical infrastructure workers. Communities need to assure healthcare systems have adequate staffing, a surplus of inpatient and ICU beds, and critical medical equipment and supplies such as PPE.
9. Public health system capacity relies on detecting, testing, contact tracing, and isolating those who are or might be sick, or have been exposed to known or suspected COVID-19 cases; it is important to stop broader community transmission and prevent communities from having to implement or strengthen further community mitigation efforts.
10. Attention should be given to people who are at higher risk for severe illness when determining and adjusting community mitigation strategies.
11. Certain settings and vulnerable populations in a community are at particularly high risk for transmission. This includes but is not limited to congregate settings such as nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, correctional facilities, and the homeless population.
12. Progressively evaluate mitigation strategies to scaled up or down, depending on the evolving local situation, and what is feasible, practical, and legal in a jurisdiction.
13. Any signs of a cluster of new cases or a reemergence of broader community transmission should result in a re-evaluation of community mitigation strategies and a decision on whether and how mitigation might need to change.
14. Presuming a community is not sheltering-in-place cross-cutting community mitigation strategies can be organized into the following categories:
    1. promoting behaviors that prevent spread
    2. maintaining healthy environments
    3. maintaining healthy operations
    4. preparing for when someone gets sick. 
15. Community mitigation strategies should be layered upon one another and used at the same time—with several layers of safeguards to reduce the spread of disease and lower the risk of another spike in cases and deaths.
16. Communities need to decide the level of risk that is acceptable and make informed choices about implementing mitigation plans accordingly.
17. Individuals make choices about following the behavioral practices that are recommended. Compliance (and NonCompliance) to community mitigation decisions must be monitored closely as they will have a direct impact the overall success of any mitigation plan to slow the spread of COVID-19.
18. Travel patterns within and between jurisdictions will impact efforts to reduce community transmission. Coordination across state and local jurisdictions is critical – especially between jurisdictions with different levels of community transmission.

While the administration continues to work with communities to implement best practices and protocols for reopening our schools we will continue to share with you guidance from the CDC, EPA, FDA, Mass EEA and OSHA and the Governor's office to follow as we prepare for the new school year.

While the administration continues to work with communities to implement best practices and protocols for reopening our schools we will continue to share with you guidance from the CDC, EPA, FDA, Mass EEA and OSHA and the Governor's office to follow as we prepare for the new school year.

Also, we at SERVPRO of Newton/Wellesley know that not every community has access to the resources necessary to meet the strict cleaning guidelines to ensure a safe environment for our children. For those communities, we are here to help!

Certified: SERVPRO Cleaned

The Disaster Remediation Teams at SERVPRO of Newton/Wellesley are specialists in cleaning services and we adhere to the highest cleaning and sanitation standards. We are prepared to clean and disinfect your schools, according to protocols set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We have years of experience in dealing with biological contaminants, and we will go beyond the scope of work of "normal daily cleaning". Call SERVPRO of Newton/Wellesley today for a free consultation - (617) 332-9000.

All of us here at SERVPRO of Newton/Wellesley want you and your loved ones to stay safe and know that we will make it through this together! Rest assured, we will continue to do our best to keep you up-to-date and informed!