Dedham Parties Cause Coronavirus Cluster, Delay In-Person Classes

DEDHAM, MA — Just a week before school is set to restart in Dedham, a series of parties is being blamed as the source of a COVID-19 cluster that brought the town's numbers up to the state designated red level. Because of the cluster, the School Committee unanimously voted to postpone in-person classes.

The parties happened between Aug. 29 and Aug. 31. The parties were mostly high school aged people and young adults, according to the Dedham Board of Health. There were 29 high school aged people at two of the gatherings, 16 of which tested positive for COVID-19. There were 12 young adults at the parties, nine of which tested positive, although only one is a Dedham resident.

Town health officials have been rigorously following up with contact tracing to ensure the virus doesn't spread further and said the quarantine for high school students from the party should end on Sept. 11 if they are asymptomatic or test positive and Sept. 14 for young adults under similar conditions.

The uptick in numbers from the party brought Dedham's overall town numbers up to 485 COVID-19 cases, the previous case count was 459. The 26 case jump brings Dedham into the state designated red level. The red level is where Gov. Charlie Baker suggests districts should remain remote until case counts trend downwards.

At an emergency meeting on Wednesday night, the Dedham Board of Health and Dedham School Committee decided to postpone the school district's in-person learning plan.

Dedham still plans on starting remote learning on Sept. 16 but, in a unanimous vote from both the School Committee and Board of Health, postponed its plan for in-person learning on Sept. 21.

"We want students back in school," Superintendent Michael Walsh said, "But we're not going to do that until it's safe — this is a wake-up call for the community."

Dedham Health Department interim director Bridget Sweet stressed that while the town is now in a red zone designation, it also has access to more resources to prevent virus spread and containment. Sweet also mentioned that residents should keep in mind that the uptick in cases was not due to community spread, but a series of isolated events.

The town is looking to use support from the state to start widespread testing and possibly bring a mobile testing site within the next week. Sweet warned that with widespread testing comes more positive cases.

"But I think that's a good, realistic picture of what's happening," Sweet said.