BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) – The president of the Erie Niagara Superintendent's Association is assuring the community that schools are not a main source of Erie County's high positive test rate.
Michael Cornell, who also heads Hamburg Schools, told WBEN this morning that even though there are students and teachers who have tested positive for coronavirus, they are not contracting it in the school setting.
"According to the Erie County Department of Health, there hasn't been a case that has been transmitted in the school setting," Cornell said. "When any school district reports a case, because there hasn't been an incident of the disease transmitting in a school, what we're really reporting is a case that in each instance, was contracted outside the school setting.
That's important for people to understand."
Five percent of people who were tested for coronavirus on Tuesday were positive, according to county officials on Wednesday. They said that the positive cases are from a wide range of places including schools, colleges, people who travel, sports teams, and in households. In other words, community spread is to blame.
According to New York State's COVID-19 report card, which tracks coronavirus at all schools in the state, 316 students have tested positive plus another 147 teachers and staff. Statewide, there are 8,169 cases among students and professionals.
There are five cases of coronavirus at Hamburg Schools based on residential address. Neighboring districts of Frontier and Orchard Park have 19 and 22 cases, respectively. Buffalo Public Schools, which is operating in a remote model, has had 17 positive cases, though 129 people have tested positive based on residential address.
Cornell said mask compliance and social distancing measures have prevented the spread of the virus in his district. However, because of the need to accommodate social distancing under the state's education department, a return to the classroom full-time will likely have to wait.
"Some combination of the governor and state education department would have to make that change," Cornell said.
