COVID-19 cases in Stanislaus County schools drop for third consecutive week
COVID-19 cases in Stanislaus County schools dropped for the third consecutive week, according to data posted Wednesday.
School districts confirmed a little over 200 cases the week beginning Sept. 19, according to the county’s COVID-19 schools dashboard. Most of the cases were reported among high school students, consistent with the previous couple of weeks.
Since students and staff returned to school buildings full time in early August, the dashboard shows that cases in schools peaked at almost 400 the week of Aug. 29.
The county’s mask mandate took effect Sept. 4. Research shows mask mandates produce visible changes after 14 to 21 days, a public health expert previously told The Modesto Bee.
Schools reported six outbreaks and 13 active clusters the week of Sept. 19, compared to four and 11, respectively, the week before. An outbreak is three cases linked to the same exposure, and a cluster is two cases linked to the same exposure.
The Health Services Agency reported almost 100 instances being “monitored for additional cases,” which is half that of the week before.
More than 1,000 students and staff were in quarantine or isolation Wednesday.
In Modesto City Schools, 55 student cases were confirmed Sept. 18-24. Six cases were confirmed among staff.
This brings the districtwide total to nearly 600 student and staff cases since the start of school, with students accounting for most cases.
The percentage of the district’s on-campus population that tested positive was 0.193 last week, according to a dashboard updated Tuesday.
Turlock Unified reported 30 cases Sept. 18-24, according to data posted Friday. Students comprised 23, and staff seven. This created about 270 close contact exposures — the lowest yet this school year.
School leaders from smaller districts told The Bee they are not able to maintain a public COVID-19 data display because of limited staffing resources.
Several districts have created data displays since the school year began. Here are other K-12 school districts in Stanislaus County that The Bee knows to have COVID-19 dashboards:
This story was originally published September 29, 2021 at 3:16 PM.
