Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect five more cases reported Tuesday.
One day after reporting two new cases of COVID-19 in the Hopkinton High School community, HHS principal Evan Bishop emailed families to announce there were five more cases reported on Monday, the first day of school after April vacation and also the first day returning to full-time in-person learning at the high school.
“The Hopkinton Public Schools are working closely with the Hopkinton Board of Health to ensure health and safety for all,” Bishop wrote.
Update, April 27, 7 p.m.: HHS reported five more COVID cases on Tuesday (via two announcements).
Hopkinton health director Shaun McAuliffe stated there is no indication that the cases are related.
“All of the children had contact over the vacation with positive teammates, friends or family,” he emailed. “Residents are simply introducing too much risk into their daily lives.”
HHS reported six cases in the week before vacation.
There was a similar surge at the high school last month. At that time, superintendent Carol Cavanaugh noted that the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) would not consider the spike a reason to transition to all-remote learning because there was no evidence of in-school transmission of the disease.
How many HHS students have to be infected before action will be taken to protect students? Why does it matter where the transmission came from, they can still spread it.
A month ago my son caught Covid from in-school transmission at HHS. I wish the BOH and our Admin would please stop pretending that there is no in-school transmission.