Covid Safety | Chestnut Hill, MA

COVID-19 Safety at Brimmer

Brimmer and May is excited to have students, faculty, and staff safely on campus. We are planning for a normal school year while following the guidelines of the CDC and Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education.

The Emergency Response Team (ERT) manages the health and safety of the community, including responses to the COVID-19 virus. Please see below for COVID safety considerations and the School’s general management decisions as we work to avoid virus spread.

Health and Safety

List of 9 items.

COVID Metrics & Considerations

When making decisions about programs and protocols at school, the Emergency Response Team (ERT) considers a wide range of available data and resources including the campus experience and external local and regional metrics.
Close Contact Policies

In accordance with the Fall 2022 guidance, Brimmer does not trace close contacts after a community member tests positive for COVID-19.
Policy for Anyone Testing Positive – Vaccinated OR Unvaccinated

Student/Faculty/Staff Positive
When a student or member of the faculty/staff tests positive for COVID-19, they will be asked to stay home for five days (the day of the positive test result is Day 0) and are able to return to school on Day 6 if they are asymptomatic or symptoms are resolving, and they have been fever-free without the use of fever-reducing medicine for 24 hours. They will then be asked to mask at school for an additional five days.

Household Positive
When a member of a student, faculty, or staff’s household tests positive, the student or faculty/staff member will be asked to test themselves using a rapid antigen test each morning for five days before coming to school. They will also be asked to mask for those five days.

We continue to encourage families to keep students home from school who are not feeling well or are displaying any significant symptoms of COVID-19.
Immunizations Requirements

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Brimmer has relied on expertise from public health and infectious disease experts as we have implemented health and safety protocols. The School has required that all students be vaccinated against COVID-19 or provide a medical or religious exemption.
Screening

We ask all families to screen their student(s) daily for signs and symptoms of illness. The signs of COVID, including those of the transmissible Delta and Omicron variant include: fever, dry cough, shortness of breath, temporary loss of taste or smell, flu-like respiratory and digestive problems, muscle aches, and fatigue.

Students that have symptoms should take a rapid antigen test. In accordance with CDC guidelines, those that test negative for COVID-19 may come to school.
Masking

Brimmer and May is mask-optional. We want to continue to stress that masking is a personal decision, and we will continue to respect individual and family choices. When necessary, the School may require masking for a group if determined by the ERT or health experts.
COVID-19 Testing

The School may test a student or faculty/staff member that presents symptoms of COVID-19, but does not test asymptomatic people.

If a Brimmer student or member of their household tests positive for COVID-19, they must contact Beth Escobar immediately at 617-278-2344.
Cleaning and Sanitization

Hand sanitizer is available throughout the campus. The School will have a supply of disposable masks available for those that may like to wear one.
Ventilation
- Classroom windows may be opened to improve airflow.
- The fresh air intake in all HVAC systems is 100%; air is being exhausted outside rather than being recirculated.
- All HVAC systems are equipped with MERV-13 filters.
- All classrooms, offices and meeting spaces are equipped with Medify Air MA-40 air purifiers. These models remove 99.9% of harmful particles down to 0.1 microns in size. This covers virtually all virus-carrying particles, including SARS-CoV-2 particles, which average 0.125 microns.

Emergency Response Team