About 1,200 Wellesley High School students and staff took part in a new round of baseline COVID-19 testing on Sunday to help the Wellesley Public School system try to reopen WHS for in-person learning this week.
WHS closed for in-person learning earlier this month following a spike in COVID-19 cases, with a goal to reopen after Thanksgiving (21 of 25 cases at the school have been detected this month).
“Today was very busy at Wellesley High School with 1022 students and 171 staff participating in a new round of baseline testing to precede the high school reopening on Tuesday. (We should receive those results [Sunday] night.) All remaining district staff and WMS students will be tested this week on Tuesday and Wednesday, following our adjusted weekly testing cycle. We thank the many volunteers who worked throughout the week distributing testing kits and supporting today’s drop-off process in Boston and at WHS,” read part of a statement from WPS Supt. Dr. David Lussier and Wellesley Health Director Lenny Izzo.
WHS has more than 1,400 students overall, so the baseline testing will only provide a partial picture.
Town officials stressed the importance of everyone staying vigilant in terms of following state protocols related to travel, etc., in the wake of Thanksgiving.
WPS has documented nine new cases across the school system since Thursday, including two cases at WHS, two at WMS, three at Upham, one at Schofield, and one at Sprague. Cases have included both students and staff.
The new cases at Upham occurred in a single classroom, which will now shift to remote learning from Dec. 1-8.
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