Education Secretary Miguel Cardona will stop in Boston on Tuesday to discuss best practices for returning to in-person learning, as Massachusetts’ first cluster testing initiative shows low transmission rates in schools.
The visit is part of a federal “Help is Here” school reopening tour, highlighting the Biden Administration’s efforts to support states as they navigate back to in-person learning through the American Rescue Plan.
Secretary Cardona will meet with Boston Mayor Kim Janey and Superintendent Brenda Cassellius for a tour and panel discussion at Tynan Elementary School Tuesday afternoon. She will then visit an educator vaccination clinic in Boston before traveling to Laurel Elementary School in Delaware.
Cardona’s visit comes as cluster testing in Massachusetts schools found COVID-19 positivity rates of 0.76%, according to Governor Charlie Baker’s administration.
The governor’s office announced the findings Monday, adding that group testing would continue to be funded until the end of the school year. Initially, state funding expired on April 18.
The country’s first group testing program began in February. Since then, Baker’s administration says the schools have tested nearly 159,000 students and staff members in 22,679 groups that included an average of seven people each. In total, 0.76% tested positive.
“Of the cluster tests collected, Massachusetts is not aware of any in which there is more than one positive individual, suggesting that there is very little evidence of school transmission of COVID-19 in Massachusetts,” the administration said in its press release. . .
State school officials say they hope this data will help parents who are hesitant about sending their children back to the classroom.
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