OPENING DAY AT THE GRIFF
Old Greenwich’s Ken Kolb, left, and Cos Cob’s Frank DiVincenzo congratulate each other Tuesday after finishing up a round of golf on opening day at the Griffith E. Harris Golf Course, the town’s public golf course. For more photos, see
GREENWICH — There have now been more than 500 cases of COVID-19 reported in the Greenwich Public Schools since staff and students returned to in-person classroom learning last September.
The school district hit the milestone after reporting 16 new cases during the period from Friday to Tuesday. There are 29 active cases in the district, currently affecting nine schools. The district also reported its first inschool transmission of the virus since Feb. 12. The total number of in-school transmissions since the start of school is now at 18 cases.
Students account for all but two of the active cases reported by the school district.
Greenwich Public Schools is still in the process of vaccinating all of its educators. When asked for information on the percentage of teachers who had been vaccinated, the district’s Director of Communication Sasha Houlihan directed comment to Greenwich Hospital, which is organizing the vaccination effort.
Greenwich Hospital was not able to provide details on the number of teachers who had already received their first dose or had opted out of the vaccine. But according to Jessica Lake, director of strategy and operations at Greenwich Hospital, more than 2,200 teachers have been vaccinated at the hospital’s Brunswick School clinic since becoming eligible March 1.
There has been an uptick in cases of the coronavirus in Greenwich schools in recent weeks, which is consistent with a statewide uptick. Connecticut is nearing 300,000 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, and the positivity rate this week was around 3.59 percent.
The state is pressing forward with Gov. Ned Lamont’s accelerated vaccination plan. As of March 19 — the same day capacity restrictions were eased on restaurants and other businesses — all residents over age 45 were eligible to begin receiving the vaccine. According to Lamont’s plan, all residents above the age of 16 will become eligible April 5.