Cases climb among students, teachers
Some schools return to masking, but most NWI districts have not yet relaxed their mandates
With positive COVID-19 cases climbing in schools, some mask-optional schools are returning to mask mandates.
The Indiana Department of Health reported 4,321 new student cases in its Dec. 6 report from the week ending Dec. 3. The week before that, which included Thanksgiving, saw 1,963 new cases.
The state reported 265 positive cases among teachers and 442 among school staff members in the Dec. 6 report.
Of the new cases, children ages 10-14, made up 41% of the infections statewide.
Locally, Hanover Central officials announced Thursday students would return to wearing face masks beginning Monday. The district went mask-optional more than two weeks ago.
A social media announcement on the returning mask mandate met with comments of support and derision.
“Good! It was a poor decision to go back to mask optional with number rising,” wrote one parent.
One commenter was distressed that elected officials made decisions.
“I’m tired of the people in certain positions thinking they can control how we the people live. It’s our choice if we want to wear a mask, get a shot or anything else.”
Meanwhile, students at Jerry Ross Elementary in Crown Point returned to wearing masks Friday through Dec. 17. The school’s positive case total exceeded the 2% threshold set by the school board last month when it made masks optional beginning Dec. 6.
Most Northwest Indiana districts haven’t relaxed their mask mandates yet. The Lake Central School Corp. is being sued by five parents over its mask mandate in civil court. District officials have until late December to respond to a summons. No court date has been set.
The delta variant is still dominant in Indiana, which hasn’t seen a case involving the newer omicron variant yet.
Indiana is one of four states, including Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, responsible for nearly half of the nation’s COVID case increase, according to data from the Washington Post.
The 2,753 Hoosiers hospitalized with COVID through Friday is nearly double November’s numbers. In November 2020, Indiana’s peak hospitalization’s peak was about 3,500.
Officials say the large majority of those hospitalized are unvaccinated. Gov. Eric J. Holcomb referred to the numbers as “a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” in urging Hoosiers to get vaccinated.
About 58.6% of Indiana residents are fully vaccinated, per state data. It’s one of the lowest rates in the U.S. where the nationwide average is 70%.
On Friday, Lake County reported 323 new cases and three deaths. Lake and Jasper counties remain one of just two northern Indiana counties not in the higher “red” category. Both are orange. Lake’s positivity rate was 14.1%. Jasper’s was 14%.
Porter County is listed in the “red” or highest spread category with a positivity rate of 19.3%. It reported 128 new cases and two deaths Friday.