Rapid Rise In UMass Off-Campus Coronavirus Cases Delays Phase 1 Of Amherst School Reopening Plan

TEACHERS’ UNION GRATEFUL FOR ADDITIONAL TIME, CITES NEED FOR FURTHER PREPARATION OF BUILDINGS

A swift rise in the numbers of off-campus students at UMass-Amherst  testing positive for COVID-19 led the Amherst Regional Public Schools (ARPS) to delay reopening buildings on October 1. The district, which is now operating remotely, had planned to bring back preschool, kindergarten and first grades pupils to buildings on Thursday, along with homeless students, those in special education programs, and English language learners.

However, shortly before noon on September 30, Superintendent Michael Morris sent an email to the Amherst Regional Public Schools’ community, stating that “Phase 1” of the district’s plan to reopen schools would be delayed. 

“The district has been eagerly planning for in-person schooling to start tomorrow for many months,” Morris stated.  ‘However, I was informed this morning by the Amherst Health Department that a total of 14 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the Town of Amherst in the last 24 hours, which brings the total to 30 new cases since last Friday.  Based on this significant increase in case count, the Amherst Regional Public Schools will postpone Phase 1 students’ return to in-person learning scheduled for tomorrow.” 

Morris said in an email this week that 300 children were expected to return to buildings, including 147 who would ride buses.  It is unknown if the Phase 1 delay will impact Phase 2, which was set to begin Oct. 19.

The regional COVID-19 case monitoring metrics adopted by the district and the Amherst Pelham Education Association (APEA)  include data from Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden counties. The formula, which weighs Hampshire County more heavily than the other two, shows a rate of 20.8 cases per 100,000 people over the last seven days, lower than the 28 per 100,000 which was set as the level for closing schools.  

APEA President Danielle Seltzer posted to the APEA’s Facebook site that the delay in reopening was not triggered by the metrics. “Our district officials have done the right thing and looked holistically at the sharply rising case count among Amherst residents and we are grateful for their prudence and for erring on the side of community health and safety,” she wrote.

Seltzer added that there are many more things that the district needs to do to prepare its school buildings for in-person learning, and that the APEA is  “grateful that this time can be used to make sure our buildings are as safe as possible for students’ eventual return.” The APEA plans to meet with the district on Oct. 2 to discuss next steps, Seltzer wrote, including the length of this delay and the impact on subsequent phases. 

Morris said he understands that the delay will present some challenges for families in Phase 1, and that information about a potential new return date will be shared Oct. 2,  “once public health authorities have clearer metrics and information.”

Town Manager Paul Bockelman, in an email to the Town Council on Wednesday, cited an increase of 32 new cases, which he said “is significant for the town and has broader implications.”

Bockelman’s email described 35 Amherst cases as “active” and noted that the town’s running total since the pandemic began is 181. As of the Sept. 21 Town Council meeting, there were just 8 active cases and a running total of 149.

Bockelman said that he and the town’s Acting Health Director, Jennifer Brown, will be meeting with UMass officials and the “Reopening Committee” on Thursday, “and will seek a better understanding of this cluster and how it is being managed.”  He added that Amherst is working with Northampton to establish a testing site in the immediate area.

A 17-member working group, including officials from UMass and the town, was launched in late July to provide a coordinated response to the pandemic. That group includes Bockelman, Amherst Police Chief Scott Livingstone, State Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, state Rep. Mindy Domb, D-Amherst, Amherst Town Council Chair Lynn Griesemer, and UMass Deputy Chancellor Steve Goodwin, among others. 

Currently, COVID-19 testing is not mandatory for students living off-campus. 

Students who reside on campus are required to undergo testing twice a week, as are off-campus students who come to campus to attend in-person classes or research labs, or to work.  Undergraduates who live in the area, defined on the UMass testing site as Amherst, Hadley, Sunderland, Belchertown, Pelham, Shutesbury or Leverett, and who do not come to campus for classes, are “strongly encouraged” to get tested twice a week. Weekly tests are urged for area graduate students who do not attend classes on campus.  

The UMass free asymptomatic testing program for COVID-19, conducted at the Public Health Promotion Center (PHPC) at the Mullins Center, is designed to mitigate community spread through the early detection of infection.

The UMass COVID-19 Testing Programs Dashboard, which is updated daily, showed 25 “new” positive cases on Wednesday. “The students are self-isolated, on and off campus,” the site states. 

There have been a total of 69 positive COVID-19 tests at UMass since mid-August, including one on-campus student, and 62 off-campus. A total of four staff and two faculty members, all described as off-campus, have tested positive.  UMass has thus far conducted 60,354 COVID-19 tests. In the past week, 2.72% of tests were positive, compared to just .12% of all tests cumulatively. 

UMass, in case descriptions dated September 28, said that fifteen students who live off-campus tested positive, including 14 who were asymptomatic. It is unknown whether the newest cases are connected to a recent cluster of 28 students. The cluster includes a group of 10 also listed on September 28, comprised of eight students who were symptomatic and two who were not.

A look at UMass case logs shows a single case each day on Sept. 26 and 27, while it appears that two groups of three students tested positive on September 25, along with one staff member. Entries for September 23 show a total of ten cases. 

“I am sorry for the unfortunate timing of this change of plans, but given the new public health information received this morning, and in consultation with the Amherst Health Department, I determined that this decision was in the best interest of our students, staff, and families,” Morris wrote yesterday. 

Toni Cunningham contributed to this article.