Every week the MA Dept. of Public Health releases numbers for how COVID-19 has impacted the state, and we try to highlight some of these numbers so the community is informed about how COVID is impacting Lynn & the state. Their numbers factor in the past week as well as the week before, giving 2 weeks worth of data.

The City of Lynn is still a high-risk community, although there are signs of hope. Lynn used to set records for new 24-hour cases frequently, but that hasn’t been broken since January 5th (210) & the number of new cases hasn’t been above 140 since Jan. 16th (averaging in the 90s). The average daily incidence rate per 100,000 for Lynn over 14 days this week was 92.4. The last 3 weeks it was at 127.2, 128.2, & 99.6. The positivity rate this week was 10.70%, the lowest it has been in some time. The last 3 weeks this rate was 12.87%, 14.46%, & 14.63%.

These are all positive trends for Lynn, which hasn’t seen consistently positive numbers like this since early Fall. You can view these trends for Lynn yourself on the City of Lynn’s COVID-19 dashboard by clicking here.

The United States currently has 25.8 million cases, up from 24.7 million last week. There are currently 102 million cases reported worldwide, up from 96.2 million last week. Daily records had been broken for new cases & deaths within 24 hours earlier this month, proving right predictions that the holiday season would lead to higher numbers. However new case numbers are dropping, and deaths have remained fairly consistent, the past couple of weeks. The death toll in the US now sits at approx. 4330K with over 3,868 dying yesterday alone. The last time that the 24-hour deaths record was set in the U.S. was on Jan. 12th with just over 4,406 dead.

In Massachusetts there are currently 192 communities in the red category & 80 in the yellow category. Last week there were 222 communities in the red & 55 in the yellow. Two weeks ago there were 229 communities in the red & 53 in the yellow.

In late fall Mass DPH began to use a different system for categorizing communities, based off their populations. Communities with populations less than 10,000 residents, between 10,000 & 50,000 residents, & more than 50,000 residents have had new metrics applied to them. Their results fall into 4 color categories; grey, green, yellow, & red. Positivity rates & average daily cases will continue to be determined by two-week rolling average. Officials say the new categories help to make the community-specific data more nuanced, and better account for increases in cases in smaller communities. They will also incorporate examples where cases at colleges, nursing homes, or jails may push an entire community into the red category. The new metrics are as follows:

Below are the statistics for Lynn & the state.

City/Town	Total Case Count	Case Count (Last 14 Days)	Average Daily Incidence Rate per 100,000 (Last 14 days)	Relative Change in Case Counts	Total Tests	Total Tests (Last 14 days)	Total Positive Tests (Last 14 days)	Percent Positivity (Last 14 days)	Change in Percent Positivity
Lynn	13,964	1,304	92.4	Lower	158,149	14,827	1,587	10.70%	Lower
STATEWIDE	484,639	57,942	59.4	Lower	13,192,478	1,222,945	67,544	5.51%	Lower

The current school year continues to present many challenges, but thanks to your patience, flexibility, and sacrifice, we have been able to overcome obstacles. This has been a very hard school year for everyone, families and teachers. I personally deeply appreciate all that family and family partners have done to support their student’s learning at home. I ask for your patience and cooperation as we begin the third quarter of the school year (February 8 – April 9). Last night, the Lynn School Committee approved a proposal to continue with remote learning for most students beginning February 8th until April 9th.

The proposal for learning during the third quarter includes a plan to provide in-person learning for specific groups of students:

The specifics for in-person programming will be communicated directly to the families of students in these programs.

The decision for the vast majority of students to remain in remote learning was incredibly difficult. Our community remains dangerously high-risk for the transmission of COVID-19; therefore, at this time, we will remain in the remote learning setting for the majority of students. A shift to an in-person, hybrid schedule for all students at this time presents serious safety concerns for students and staff. In order to ensure a healthy and safe learning environment, decisions are made in partnership with the city’s Health Director and the Lynn Public Schools Nursing Department. This is part of our unwavering philosophy and commitment to the health and well-being of all. The proposal for learning beginning February 8th is in keeping with that commitment.

The groups of students who are invited to begin receiving in person instruction on March 1st are those whose needs we struggle to meet the most in the remote learning format. The selection of these groups is not intended to suggest that these are the only students for whom remote learning is difficult. The students invited for in-person learning are those whose learning and growth needs simply cannot be met in remote learning.

It is my sincere hope that the situation in the coming months will be safe enough to invite more students back for in-person learning or activities.

The conditions of a global pandemic are far from ideal. It will get better. I am excited to expand in-person services for students during the third quarter. I am so proud and admire the effort and resilience our students have shown in the remote setting over the past year. Please reach out to your student’s school and they will answer any questions or discuss any concerns you may have. As always, I will continue to keep the lines of communication open. Please join me for a Virtual Town Hall for all families on February 23, 2021 at 6pm. Information for the Town Hall will be available on Monday, February 22, 2021.

Yours in partnership,

The above press release is courtesy of the Lynn Public Schools.
Click the links to download the English & Spanish language PDFs of this letter.