After a break for the summer, the Louisiana Department of Health resumed its weekly report on COVID cases in schools, and the new school year’s first batch of numbers were eyepopping.
Elementary and secondary schools in the state reported 2,094 students had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as the Delta variant continues to fuel the current surge gripping the Pelican State. It’s a new pandemic highpoint, besting the 1,738 mark reported back in the first week of January 2021.
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Most concerning is that the report included less than 30% of all schools in the state, with the other 70+% declining to submit their numbers for the week of August 9-15.
That’s more than 1,200 schools who didn’t contribute to the total with 528 public and private schools reporting their case-counts.
St. Tammany Parish schools reported the most positive cases in students with 303, followed by Orleans with 262 and Jefferson with 203.
St. Tammany also led the way in terms of faculty and staff members testing positive with 53.
Overall statewide, the infection-rate among children is on the rise, according to numbers released by the state on Wednesday, with 5,637 children aged 5-17 testing positive for the week of August 5-11 – 510 more than the previous week.
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