Good Morning, Reading Public School Community,

Late last evening, the Town of Reading Board of Health announced that the Town of Reading has one presumptive positive case of COVID-19.  The community member is a parent of students at Coolidge Middle School and Reading Memorial High School.  All teachers working directly with the students, as well as other close contacts in the schools, have been or are in the process of being notified.  The students were asymptomatic last week and developed mild symptoms over the weekend. All members of the family are currently self-quarantining.  Our thoughts go out to that family for a healthy recovery.

We anticipate cases such as this will increase over the next days and weeks, but wanted you to know as this is one of the first cases in Reading.  So you are aware, symptoms typically begin within 5 days of exposure, but can develop up to 14 days from contact.

If you develop symptoms, specifically fever, cough, body aches, or sore throat, please call your physician for guidance. In addition, please see https://www.mass.gov/resource/information-on-the-outbreak-of-coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19 for more information and be aware there is also a MA 211 referral information hotline available.

If you have any further questions, please reach out to Mary Giuliana, RMHS school nurse at mary.giuliana@reading.k12.ma.us.

John F. Doherty

Superintendent

Reading Public Schools

82 Oakland Road

Reading, MA 01876