December 17, 2021
Dear Smithfield Staff and Families,
This 17th edition of the Back to School report includes our weekly report on COVID cases, vaccination clinic, boosters, surveillance testing, reporting cases during the holidays, and town data.
A Weekly Report on COVID Cases
Over the past week, since the last Back to School Report, we have had an additional 45 confirmed COVID cases. This brings our total since our school year began to 220 cases. There were 15 cases identified at SHS (14 students and 1 staff member), 14 cases identified at Gallagher, 7 cases at Pleasant View Elementary, 7 cases at LaPerche Elementary and two 2 cases at Old County Road Elementary.
Vaccination Clinics
Tomorrow (December 18th) there is a vaccination clinic for ages 5-11 (Pfizer vaccine) at Old County Road from 10AM to 2PM. To register, go to this link by noon today (Friday): https://www.vaccinateri.org/appointment/en/reg/5215911066 . The maximum capacity is 288. While walk-ins may be accepted, reserve your spot now!
Dose 2 will be on Saturday, 8 January. Both clinics will be hosted at Old County Road Elementary School.
Boosters
CDC now recommends COVID-19 vaccine booster doses for everyone age 16 or older.
Positive Cases Over The Holiday Break
This is our last Back to School Report before the holidays. Please stay safe and observe good practices to stop the spread of this virus. If your child tests positive over the school break, please send the test results to your school nurse and mmoroni@smithfield-ps.org. It is important for us to record that status for future quarantine situations and testing requirements
Athlete & Surveillance Testing - Week of 12/20
Our testing scheduled for Tuesday, December 21st will be moved to Monday, December 20th. The testing procedure will remain the same.
Town Data
The number of weekly new cases in Smithfield for the week ending December 11th rose to 90 cases, a steady rise over the past 5 weeks (33 to 54 to 60 to 84 to 90). The number of cases in the state has been somewhat proportional, with 5981 new cases last week. The town rate corresponds to a weekly rate of 409 new cases per 100,000 residents, which is considered a high rate of transmission as classified by the CDC. This data is available at https://bit.ly/2PxCgDM.
Sincerely,
Judy Paolucci, Superintendent