This past weekend was bookended by emails from Wilton Public Schools‘ superintendent, Dr. Kevin Smith, announcing two new COVID-19-positive cases in the district. The first email arrived Friday afternoon, Oct. 23, informing families, guardians and teachers that a member of the Cider Mill School community had tested positive. Late Sunday night, Oct. 25, the second email arrived, but this time Smith relayed the news without identifying which school or schools was directly involved.
Otherwise, the emails were essentially identical, describing steps the district is undertaking in contact tracing; informing individuals who may have had close contact with the infected individuals about either quarantining or closely monitoring symptoms; and confirming that schools will otherwise open and operate as planned Monday morning.
There was one subtle difference: Friday’s email said that contact tracing was conducted, while Sunday’s email explained that administrators were “initiating contact tracing,” which seemed to show that school officials may have learned of the second case relatively late on Sunday themselves.
GOOD Morning Wilton reached out to Smith for clarification on which school was impacted in the second case. He has not replied by press time.
Whether he will offer that information is up in the air, especially as Smith includes the following line in every email he sends about a positive case: “As I have written in previous communications, it is natural to perhaps want more specific information than is contained in this letter. However, as we hope you understand, privacy is important and we will adhere to applicable laws and regulations regarding student and employee confidentiality and privacy.”
[UPDATE, 7 a.m.: Smith reached out shortly before 7 a.m. Monday to say that this second case is not school-specific: “The individual has contact with others across schools,” Smith wrote, adding that he couldn’t say anything more in order to protect privacy.]
The news comes as COVID-19 cases are on the rise again, both locally and across Fairfield County. As of Thursday, Oct. 22, Wilton has received reports of 11 new cases in the last week alone. Three neighboring towns–Danbury, Fairfield and Norwalk–have been classified as “red-alert,” with an average daily rate of 15-or-more positive cases per 100,000 people over the prior 14 days.
District officials and the health advisers consulting with them are keeping a watchful eye as the number of cases continues to rise. At Thursday evening’s Board of Education meeting, Smith reversed a prior recommendation to the BOE members to return all Middlebrook School students to four days per week, in-person learning. Instead, he said all COVID-19 indicators point to the need to hold off on changing learning models at Middlebrook for now. In the meantime, the district has already transitioned to in-person learning for all students at Cider Mill and Miller-Driscoll Schools.
Wilton High School is still operating under the hybrid learning model.