BARNSTABLE – Barnstable County Department of Health and Environment Public Nurse Deirdre Arvidson provided insight on school reopening plans during a recent remote meeting with the Cape Cod Reopening Task Force.
Arvidson’s main objective, in her own words, was to reduce fears residents might have during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s really not good for anybody’s health to be so overly afraid and anxious,” Arvidson explained.
Arvidson said that Barnstable County has a positive test rate below 5%, meaning that the area should be able to properly reopen schools with proper guidelines and tracing practices in place.
The Cape does indeed have those assets ready, Arvidson added. Those mixed with typical virus mitigation efforts, such as hand washing and wearing face coverings, will reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission within schools.
Guidance given to the county, Arvidson said, suggests that materials that could be infected will not be a major concern if those safety and sanitation measures are followed throughout schools.
“I think that’s important to remember: that even though things could possibly get the virus on it, it still has to enter your body, and it doesn’t enter through intact skin,” she continued.
Transmission through brief and passing interactions and contact, such as students passing each other in hallways while wearing masks, is also rare according to Arvidson.
Close contacts to those who have tested positive for COVID-19–identified as those who have been within six feet of the infected individual for 15 or more minutes–will be traced through a public health nurse interview.
Close contacts will have to quarantine for two weeks after their latest exposure to someone with the virus, and should be tested for the coronavirus themselves.
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