SWAMPSCOTT — A COVID-19 outbreak at Swampscott High School last week is sending the district scrambling for ramped-up testing and contact tracing.
The district offered a drive-through COVID testing site Monday at the high school for faculty and staff of the school. Contact tracing is also ongoing.
The outbreak caused the high school to return to fully-remote learning until at least April 5. High school students were originally meant to transition Monday to a five-day in-person schedule from their current two-day schedule. Sports and other extracurricular activities have also been canceled.
As of Monday afternoon, according to the district’s COVID data dashboard, 26 cases have been reported among students and staff at the high school in March (29 total cases have been reported in the district during that time, with all but one reported since March 17). An additional 76 people at the high school have indicated that they were exposed or are still awaiting test results.
It is estimated to be the largest outbreak in the town since the start of the pandemic.
WCVB reported Sunday that the outbreak has been traced to a house party attended by 30 to 40 students last weekend. Superintendent Pamela Angelakis said in a statement that she is aware only that it was an out-of-school gathering and does not know where it was held.
Alex Hankins, a junior at the high school who has been fully remote for the past few months, said that he isn’t sure how the shutdown will affect his return to school, which was slated to happen on April 5.
“Right now, everything is really shutting down, like sports are all canceled for the next few weeks, and everything is hectic,” Hankins said. “The remote kids are already remote, so I don’t know if it’s going to change for us. It might be longer now.”
