Lamont: No plans for remote learning as school COVID-19 cases surge
Cases among students have been rising steadily since mid-November, mirroring a similar trend seen among the general population of Connecticut, where the positivity rate of COVID-19 tests, overall infections and hospitalizations — including a jump of 60 more patients over the weekend — have increased sharply in recent weeks.
Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday he has no plans to send Connecticut’s schools back to remote learning even as data shows the new wave of infections is impacting hundreds of districts with cases mostly among unvaccinated children.
In the latest weekly report, schools across Connecticut reported a total of 1,881 COVID cases among students, up nearly 75 percent from the academicyear low of 487 that was reported the week ending on Nov. 3.
Cases among students have been rising steadily since midNovember, mirroring a similar trend seen among the general population of Connecticut, where the positivity rate of COVID-19 tests, overall infections and hospitalizations — including a jump of 60 more patients over the weekend — have increased sharply in recent weeks.
When asked Monday about the rising case rates at an event at Staples High School in Westport, Lamont said he has not given any thought to sending schools into remote learning again as a precaution against the virus.
“Our schools opened a yearplus ago, they opened safely, they were some of the safest places in Connecticut,” Lamont said, pointing out that additional precautions, such as vaccines, have since become available.
Through the weekend, Connecticut saw the positivity rate, which was averaging above 6 percent, fall to 2.21 percent when 1,220 cases were found among 55,146 tests. Hospitalizations climbed another 60 patients for a total of 645. State officials said Monday that 507 of the people hospitalized with COVID are not vaccinated.
The rise in school cases comes weeks after federal regulators expanded vaccination eligibility to children ages 5 to 11, now encompassing all K-12 schoolchildren. High school students 16 and older can now also receive the Pfizer booster.
However, the majority of cases still involve children who are unvaccinated, the data shows.
Of the 1,881 student cases, 1,523 were not fully vaccinated, according to state data, and 158 were among children whose vaccination status was unknown.
Despite broad eligibility, the latest figures show that 27 percent of children between the ages of 5 and 11 are fully vaccinated, potentially showing a slow demand for doses in this age group.
Nearly 700 Connecticut schools had reported COVID cases in the week leading up to Thursday’s report, the data shows. Many of the schools reported fewer than six cases. If there are fewer than six cases, school districts are not required to report the exact number.
The rise in cases among teachers and other school staff has been similar, state data shows. There were 384 COVID-19 cases among school staff in the last report, a 76percent jump from a low of 92 in early November.
Unlike with students, the majority of cases among staff involve those who are fully vaccinated. Teachers and other school staff were among the first eligible to receive a vaccine and booster shots and officials have said a high percentage are fully vaccinated.
Despite rises in cases, school districts across Connecticut have remained committed to keeping students in classrooms full-time this academic year.
In recent communications to school district superintendents, the state’s education department has said it is expanding schoolbased testing and has been sharing information about a new quarantine protocol that aims to lessen the requirements for vaccinated students to stay home if exposed to COVID-19 in schools.
“I’m doing everything I can to make sure we keep our schools open for in-person learning,” Lamont said Monday.