Earlier today, Dr. Estrella organized a meeting of NPS’s senior leadership and health services teams, along with the Deanna D’Amore from the Norwalk Health Department and our medical advisor, Dr. Norman Weinberger. The agenda for the meeting included a discussion of the state guidance issued Friday night about Covid-related quarantines, testing and contact tracing. It also included a review of the current Covid testing and vaccination situation in Norwalk, the availability of staffing and other district resources, and the health protocols we currently have in place. 

Our health experts confirmed that Norwalk’s Covid rate remains high, with a positivity rate of 12.3% and an average daily case rate of 101.3 cases per 100,000 population. With family gatherings over the holidays and the rise of the highly contagious Omicron variant, there is concern that Norwalk’s numbers will continue to remain high throughout the month of January.

We also learned that, compared to neighboring towns, Norwalk is lagging in the number of children vaccinated against Covid.  As of Wednesday, December 29, only 17% of children 5-11 have been fully vaccinated. We encourage all families to speak with their child’s doctor about the Covid vaccine, or to visit the City of Norwalk’s website for more information about vaccine clinics in our area:  Norwalk Area Vaccination Clinics.

With this information in mind, Norwalk Public Schools will maintain most of our current health protocols through the month of January. Quarantine procedures will remain unchanged, with individuals who test positive directed to isolate at home for 10 days. Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated individuals who have had close contact with a Covid-positive person will be required to quarantine at home and test for Covid on day 5 from their last date of exposure.

Based on increased caseloads and availability of staff, NPS will implement some changes beginning tomorrow, as outlined below:

• Nurses will remain in place full time at the high schools, and at schools where we have medically fragile students. At other schools, nurses will split their time between buildings, remaining in close contact and on call as needed when covering another school.  

• Contact tracing will be prioritized for positive cases in grades K through 5 and for high school sports teams. Other than athletics, middle and high schools will no longer contact trace, but all families will continue to receive communication from the school when a positive case has been confirmed in the school community.    
• All large, in-person meetings and events are cancelled unless they can be held virtually.

• Field trips are also cancelled until further notice, due to concerns about the increased risk of transmission during transportation. 

We will reassess prior to January 30 to see if it would be appropriate at that time for NPS to shift to any additional health protocols outlined in the latest guidance.

We look forward to welcoming students and staff back to school tomorrow, Monday, January 3, 2022. Please know that at this time, a shift to school or districtwide remote learning is not an option in Connecticut, as those days would not count towards the State’s legal requirement of 180 instructional days.

We know these remain difficult times for families and students. We appreciate your feedback, and want you to know that we will continue doing everything in our power to keep everyone healthy and learning.  We will continue to update you of any changing circumstances.

As always, thank you for your support and patience.