Dear Haverford School Community,
Last Friday, our Health Center sent an update on the COVID-19 coronavirus and the steps all of us can take to protect ourselves and our community. In the week since, we have learned a great deal about the coronavirus and taken additional steps as a school to prepare.
There is significant good news to report. Although the coronavirus is easily transmittable, it appears to manifest relatively mild symptoms in most of those affected – and young children in particular appear to either be resistant to the virus or are often asymptomatic if they carry it. However, there is also cause for concern as cases continue to emerge in the United States. While we are intensifying janitorial cleaning and disinfecting practices and following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including hand washing with warm water for at least 20 seconds and coughing or sneezing into the elbow, we are also putting contingency plans in place to support the health of our community.
We have cancelled our planned Global Studies visit to Italy, in accordance with CDC guidance, and are carefully examining other planned trips. We similarly encourage all families to carefully consider the risk of their own planned spring break travel. If your family or you personally travel this spring break to areas highlighted by the CDC as problematic, please communicate with us and delay returning to campus immediately after the break until we can obtain medical certification that you and your children are healthy to return to the School community.
We are currently developing distance learning plans, in case local health authorities determine that school closures are necessary. We ask that you comply with instructions from your son's teachers on tests of these systems. Please contact your teacher or division head if your son does not have access to the internet or to a connected device at home, so that we can help solve that challenge.
It is very important to remain calm at this time, and throughout the days and weeks that follow. At present, the influenza with which we are all familiar is more of a health risk than is coronavirus, and many of the same techniques we use to guard against the flu are exactly the steps we should be taking to prevent the transmission of coronavirus. Most importantly, if your son is sick, keep him home, avoid contact with other people, and do not return to school until he has been fever-free without medication for at least 24 hours. Seek consultation from your family physician if he exhibits coronavirus symptoms of fever, cough, or shortness of breath.
With diligence, common sense, and teamwork – some of the same skills we teach our boys – we will endure and prevail. We will continue to update you as the situation progresses.
