Damariscotta preschooler tests positive for the coronavirus

A student at Coastal Kids Preschool in Damariscotta has tested positive for COVID-19, but the school remains open and does not have an outbreak, according to school and state officials.

Coastal Kids Preschool Executive Director Lisa Conway said the student’s family and LincolnHealth contacted the school Wednesday. The student had exhibited mild symptoms on Sept. 21, and then tested positive.

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention contacted the school the same day.

Maine CDC spokesperson Robert Long confirmed by email that Coastal Kids does not have an outbreak, which the agency defines as three or more linked cases.

Five employees and 12 students were in the same toddler class as the student. All have tested negative, but are quarantining for two weeks as required by the Maine CDC.

Conway said no other students in the building had exposure to the infected student.

Conway said the students in the toddler class are 2 years old or younger and are not allowed to wear masks, but employees wear masks.

She said that in the toddler class, it is harder to have students maintain physical distancing, but the school does so as much as possible. The school also sanitizes the playground after every use.

Conway said the school has all the same strict COVID-19 protocols in place as before.

“I’m feeling really good about the health and safety protocols we have in place,” she said Friday.

Coastal Kids Preschool has seven different classes with students from ages 1.5 to 7 and is at capacity this year, Conway said. The school is licensed to have 78 students.

The mother of the child who tested positive, who asked not to be identified, said a teacher at Coastal Kids noticed her child had a fever and notified the family Sept. 21.

Per the preschool’s guidelines, the child was tested for COVID-19 so he could return to school without first isolating for 72 hours.

The student was tested last Tuesday at the drive-thru facility on LincolnHealth’s Miles Campus and received results Wednesday, when LincolnHealth and the Maine CDC contacted the family.

The boy’s mother said Dr. Andrew Russ, vice president of medical affairs at LincolnHealth, “provided as much guidance and support as we needed, and continues to.”

LincolnHealth spokesperson John Martins declined to comment, citing federal patient confidentiality laws.

The boy’s mother said he only had a low-grade fever for a few hours Monday and had no symptoms Friday.

“He is very healthy and very happy,” she said.

The student’s household of three people is now under extended isolation, the mother said. Once the child has not had any symptoms for 10 days, they still have to quarantine for another two weeks, per Maine CDC guidelines.

This story appears through a media partnership with The Lincoln County News.