Nayan Shankaran ‘24
In response to rising COVID-19 cases in southeastern Pennsylvania and the large percentage of people gathering or traveling for the holidays, The Episcopal Academy has readapted to virtual learning after being in-person for two months.
After Thanksgiving break, Dr. T.J. Locke, the Greville Haslam Head of School, announced that EA would be primarily virtual until January 8th, and as a result, winter sports have been delayed. When asked about his decision, Locke responds, “We weren’t technically forced to close, but we knew that [the holidays] are going to be a problem moment with people traveling and gathering. The numbers are really high and are predicted to get much higher. Taking a break after Thanksgiving will give us some time for people to develop symptoms, so they would know to stay home and keep our school safe.”
In his COVID-19 email update, “Continuation of Remote Learning in Upper School,” Locke addresses the “recent exposure risks outside of school that have impacted dozens of students in the division,” remarking, “while we had hoped to host classes on-campus [the second week after Thanksgiving break], […] it is in the best interest of our community’s safety to continue with remote learning in Upper School.”
In a town hall with EA seniors, Zachary Richards, Dean of the Class of 2021, mentioned that multiple student gatherings which took place during Thanksgiving break were part of the reason for the shutdown. When asked about potential disciplinary consequences for the students who participated in student gatherings like this, Michael Letts, the Head of Upper School, says, “We want compliance [with COVID-19 restrictions] due to communal respect, empathy, and care, not […] based on fear of punishment. That said, in cases where a student or family openly flaunts or violates our norms, we will demand that they go completely virtual. However, I don’t see that as discipline per se, I see that as mitigating a health risk while still providing that student with an EA education.”
Regarding holiday travel, Locke feels that “it’s hard to enforce the travel advisories within the EA community. Certainly, there have been times already when we heard about a family traveling, and then we’ve asked them to quarantine for 14 days or provide negative test results.”
Dr. Marissa Brunetti P ‘24, ‘26, ‘30, a Pediatric Cardiac Intensivist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, predicted EA’s holiday shutdown prior to it happening, when she said, “The [virtual period] will have to go beyond December 7th until after New Year’s. I’m a critical care physician, and those of us in the critical care community are very worried about the window of Thanksgiving through January because we have three holidays back to back.”
“There’s so many factors, and that’s why this decision to go virtual is so hard,” Locke explains. “We look at a bunch of data sources to follow the numbers. I also meet one-on-one each week with the CHOP PolicyLab and Chester County Health Department to hear their perspectives. I talk to other schools, get a sense of how people feel here, and we hear about what’s happening in the community […]. Of course there’s what the Governor says, and he’s got the ability to mandate a closure.”
Ronak Nagar ‘24, whose sibling attends the Shipley School, comments, “Before [Shipley] closed, they were testing 20% of the school population at random once a week, and as a result of their increasing positive cases, they announced on November 17th that they would switch to virtual learning for two weeks.”
“We instead adopted a policy where we will perform PCR tests for symptomatic people,” describes Locke. “If someone comes to the nurse, and they have COVID symptoms, we get permission from the parents and take a swab right here on campus, overnight it to the lab, and receive results the next day. That’s been really fast and effective, and it’s been helping us to mitigate the spread.”
The school’s testing guideline specifies that if a student or employee develops COVID-19 symptoms at home, they have the option to contact EA’s Health Services Office to schedule a drive-by test upon granting authorized permission and signing consents. EA has also partnered with Vybe Urgent Care, which can conduct off-campus testing for members of the EA community
EA is also continuing to pursue robust contact tracing protocols for our return to school. Laura Hurst, the EA Director of Health Services, believes, “[EA’s contact tracing policy] is very comparable to other independent schools. There are a number of us here at Episcopal who took the Johns Hopkins contact tracing course over the summer. It was an online, 6-hour course that went through how to contact trace for COVID-19, and that is what we’re using as our basis to do the contact tracing.”
“Once we learn of a positive individual,” Hurst explains, “[we] call the person to contact trace. Depending on the date of their test or when their symptom onset was, we can determine their infectious period. Then, we […] ask step-by-step questions regarding any contacts they may have had. Lastly, we work with others at Episcopal to come up with our communication plan. In the nurse’s office, we also maintain very detailed information on people who have undergone testing and their results.”
Due to fundamental safety measures including mask-wearing, social-distancing, and the screening app, EA has been able to contain the spread of COVID-19 within the campus. This is a large factor that allowed EA to maintain in-person instruction for a long period of time. Hurst notes the “many protective features in place to help reduce risk for people.”
According to Hurst, “Our screening app is our first line of defense in the morning. We’re trying to identify anybody who could potentially have COVID. The screening questionnaire […] was designed based on CDC and Chester County guidelines. If you fail it, we urge you to stay home, follow up with your doctor, and reach out if you need testing.”
Lindsey Demyun ‘21, the first student to test positive in the Upper School, observes, “One of the measures of how successful EA’s safety protocols and discipline around COVID-19 is that none of my close contacts tested positive because we were always distanced and wearing masks. As someone who lives with at-risk people at home, I still felt safe at EA due to the measures they were putting in place.” Celia Gallagher ‘21, who was originally labeled as a close contact of a person with COVID-19 twice, agrees, “Despite being identified as a close contact, I definitely feel safe at school because there was no linked transmission within the campus. That being said, I think that it’s really helpful that [EA] is enforcing the masking policy.”
Brunetti shares an important piece of advice for Upper School students: “It’s important for the Upper Schoolers to know that although they are more likely to have either asymptomatic disease or disease with mild symptoms, they are a reservoir for the rest of the community. Although one student may be healthy, they might have class with a child who has asthma or diabetes, and very importantly, some of the teachers are at a higher risk. Knowing this information should impact the students’ decisions.”
“This is really a battle that needs to be fought and won in the community; the front line in preventing spread is the community around us,” continues Brunetti. “The healthcare workers are actually your last line of defense. I think people need to internalize [this message] and use it in their decision making.”