Weymouth Youth Cheer Facility COVID Cluster Includes 37 Cases From 14 Towns
WEYMOUTH (CBS) – Health officials said there are currently 37 COVID cases connected to a cluster at a youth cheerleading training facility in Weymouth. Cheer Sport Sharks said they've followed COVID protocol stringently for the last year and have not had any positive cases until now.
The Weymouth Health Department said it has been investigating the cluster since Monday.
Of the 37 cases, four are Weymouth residents. Other towns impacted are Braintree, Rockland, Randolph, Quincy, Brookline, East Bridgewater, Hingham, Kingston, Marion, Franklin, Whitman, Dedham, and Easton.
Nurses are working to complete contact tracing to make sure COVID quarantine and isolation requirements are being met.
The health department also said it will work to make sure the business is working in compliance of the state's COVID executive order for sports facilities.
Kel Fichtner with Cheer Sport Sharks released the following statement below.
"At Cheer Sport Sharks we have followed a stringent protocol over the last 12 months involving temperature checks at the door, mask policies, social distance policies, frequent sanitization of the entire gym, reduction in athletes inside the gym and continued to send monthly reminders to our families on our policies & procedures. With this protocol, we had not had any positive COVID cases, until the recent occurrences.
In my 25 years as a cheer coach and cheer gym owner I have never put anything but my athletes health and wellness first. Neither I nor any staff member or parent knowingly permitted a known positive Covid case to use our facilities. Anything to the contrary is extremely disheartening to hear.
We will continue to follow guidance by both the CDC and Weymouth board of health and work alongside them in caring for our athletes and families and ensuring that our facility is fully compliant with all health and safety requirements."