Dear Haverford School Community,
As you have likely heard, a Germantown Academy student’s parent has tested positive for COVID-19 Coronavirus. GA has closed for three days and will operate after those three days as a “Virtual GA” until spring break as a precaution. To our collective knowledge, no GA students have tested positive for COVID-19, and while we have many connections with GA students and faculty, there is no immediate cause for alarm that any of our students have the virus. We are operating as normal with the exception of the measures described below.
We appear to be entering a phase of community transmission, during which the principles of good hygiene we’ve been sharing with you and reinforcing with the boys will be even more important. As I mentioned to you last week, 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 spring break trip to Florida and are examining our planned trip to Cuba. 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 designated by the CDC as suffering from Level 2 or 3 coronavirus infestations, we request that you and your son not return to campus after the break until we can obtain medical certification that your family is 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. Please contact your teacher or division head if your son does not have access to the internet or to a connected device at home. Teachers will be given instruction on how to conduct distance learning classes, and we will test these systems both during the school day and in the evenings, when teachers will provide a time for your son to log on from your home. While we cannot replicate the full Haverford experience online, we do hope to be able to provide a continuing educational experience for your sons in the event that the health department requires us to close.
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.
