Dear Friends,

I hope this message finds you all healthy, safe, and enjoying the holiday season. This week we are taking a collective deep breath at Westtown. Students and faculty have largely left campus, while administrative offices remain open. We have taken stock of the semester behind us in order to evaluate our pandemic response, identify what worked well and what can be improved, and prepare for our Spring Semester. In this letter, I will share:

A summary of our pandemic experience in the Fall Semester, with facts and figures in blue font;
A note about new mitigation requirements in Pennsylvania, effective through January 4;
Information about communications between the school and our parent community during Winter Break;
Information about return-to-school COVID testing before the start of the Spring Semester.

Fall Semester Pandemic Response

The pandemic was bound to affect our community, but thus far, known cases of COVID on Westtown's campus have been relatively few in number, reflecting our goal of managing our risk while providing educational continuity through robust mitigation efforts. Each time we learned of a positive case of COVID in our community, we notified parents, employees, and our oldest students, but here is a summary since just before the resumption of on-campus co-curriculars and on-campus learning.

Since October 1, we have seen a total of ten (10) cases of COVID-19 on campus, as follows:

Four (4) students
One (1) faculty member
Five (5) staff members

I'm very relieved to report that all of these wonderful Westonians are either fully recovered or well on their way to recovery. In addition, it is worth noting that this is only 1% of our combined student, faculty, and staff populations, whereas for the same period of time (October 1 to date), Chester and Delaware Counties have seen cases amounting to about 2% of the population. Of course, this data does not take into account unreported or unrecognized cases; still, the fact that our school community's rates are well below those in our surrounding area reflects the strength of Westtown's mitigation efforts.

Following each known case, we used our MooseLinks data to conduct contact tracing on campus, in addition to the efforts of Chester County Health Department (CCHD) beyond our campus. Close contacts were asked to quarantine in order to prevent further infections, but each quarantine is itself a hardship, so it is good news that at Westtown, quarantines due to contact with COVID-positive friends on our campus have been minimal.

Since October 1, here are our quarantine numbers:

Twenty (20) individuals were required to quarantine due to close contact with one of our ten COVID-positive cases on our campus.

(Note that this number does not take into account those who had to quarantine on account of symptoms or for other reasons.) This low number of close-contact quarantines reflects widespread compliance with physical distancing at Westtown, and effective repurposing and reconfiguring of indoor and outdoor spaces to allow us to spread out. We are also pleased with our MooseLinks system, and the fact that we have not had to rely on "manual" contact tracing which can be over-inclusive. Following quarantine, we were attentive to the possibility that any of these close contacts actually contracted the coronavirus here on our campus (known as "linked transmission").

Regarding linked transmission on our campus:

We have seen no student-to-student linked transmission.
We have seen no student-to-adult linked transmission.
We have seen two (2) cases of adult-to-adult linked transmission.

The minimal level of linked transmission is doubtless due to the steadfast commitment of our faculty and staff to rigorous mitigation strategies. We have responded to both incidents of linked transmission by taking additional steps towards mitigating risk in the areas in which the transmission occurred.

In conclusion, while the pandemic continues to be a stressful and worrying experience for all of us, we feel that our community successfully mitigated the risk of being together on campus this fall. Let us never forget that this coronavirus can be deadly. Members of our community have lost loved ones to COVID. Our hearts go out to these friends, and we hope you will join us in holding them in the Light. As we look ahead to the Spring Semester, and considering the importance for our young people of learning in person, we are filled with gratitude for the compliance of our students and employees with mitigation strategies, and the cooperation of our families beyond campus. Thank you, everyone, for staying safe and doing your part to keep others safe.

New Mitigation Measures in Pennsylvania

Last Thursday, Governor Wolf issued new orders requiring additional mitigation measures in our state effective through January 4, 2021. You can read the complete orders here. Although these requirements are set to expire before we gather again for the Spring Semester, it is worth noting that some requirements would affect our program and operations were they to be extended, including:

No indoor gatherings of >10;
No outdoor gatherings of >50;
Closure of gyms (including our own Fitness Center until January 4);
No K-12 athletic competitions, scrimmages, or practices;
No in-person extracurricular activities.

Pennsylvania residents, I hope this information is helpful to you during the break.

Pandemic safety and communications over Winter Break

As you know, our Winter Break this year lasts from December 11-January 11. While many Westtown staff members and teachers will be working either on or off campus from time to time, please note that school will be closed on December 24-25 and December 31-January 1.

Please stay in touch. Throughout the break, we ask that all students and their families please continue to communicate with Westtown as you have been doing. Please update us about any health-related concerns as they arise, including symptoms, exposure, travel to high-risk areas, and testing. Although break is lengthy, any symptoms, exposures, or testing may have implications for our community. Please use the pandemic_support@westtown.edu email address, but note that there may be a delay in our responses to non-urgent messages.

What to expect from Westtown communications: To our employees and boarders remaining on dorm over break, we will continue to send communications about cases involving anyone who has been on campus as they occur. To our whole community, we will send one cumulative summary of any cases, towards the end of break.

Please stay safe! We continue to hope, plan, and expect for an on-campus start to the Spring Semester on January 11. (Boarders will find dates and other information about moving back on dorm in separate communications from T. Veda and T. Whitney.) Thank you in advance for continuing to make responsible decisions for your family over the holidays to maximize our chances of resuming on-campus learning as scheduled and continuing in that mode throughout 2021!

Return-to-School COVID Testing in January

Given the risks associated with holiday gatherings and travel, our whole community will be tested twice as we return for the Spring Semester. All students and employees will be required to participate in one round of testing during the week of January 4, and a second round during the week of January 11. As was true in the fall, students and employees may take their tests on campus; alternately, you may opt for tests with your own provider or at a clinic of your choice (in the same time periods as on-campus testing), and send us the results. Please stay tuned for detailed information by January 1. Boarding students and their families will receive separate instructions from T. Veda. We continue to explore options for further testing as the semester progresses, and we will share our conclusions as we learn more.

Thank you!

Thank you, Westonians, for partnering with each other and the school on this challenging and trying journey! From all of us to all of you, we wish a healthy, restful break and all the joys of the season. We look forward to seeing you in 2021. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Yours,