Over the last several days, multiple positive COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in Kings Highway Elementary School, Bedford Middle School and most recently in Coleytown Elementary School, which has had previous positive cases since schools reopened on Sept. 8.

            With the recent cases in Westport, this brings the total number of confirmed cases to nine throughout the district, including several staff members and students. This follows the recent decision by Superintendent of Schools Thomas Scarice to not reopen the district to full in-person learning.

“We will continue to adhere to the appropriate means of notifying the school community of possible exposure to COVID-19 on a case-by-case basis,” Scarice wrote in an email to the Westport community. “Judgement will be used and each case might look a little different from another.”

Unlike with a previous case at Coleytown Elementary, none of these three required a temporary closure of the school as the district was able to begin immediate contact tracing.

“The most immediate reason is what happened at [Coleytown, meaning] if time is needed to conduct contact tracing then a closure is appropriate,” Scarice said in a previous interview, following the first Coleytown positive test. “However, if a positive test is identified but it is contained, then a school can remain open.”

           Even with the current school plan in place however, some Staples’ students feel concerned about a possible positive case of COVID-19 or even a closure of the school.

           “I do music and sports and I’m always concerned about one slip up because if one person messes up [and] tests positive, the whole school year could be jeopardized,” Delaney McGee ’23 said. “I am very concerned sometimes because I know there are several people at Staples who should take this virus more seriously when they aren’t.”