County Schools Cope with Covid Cases

COURT HOUSE – The state has a dashboard intended to inform the public about Covid outbreaks in school settings. This week, beginning Sept. 27, the number of individuals with Covid infections from confirmed in-school transmission doubled from last week, beginning Sept. 20.  
The dashboard the previous week indicated school districts across the state had 23 outbreaks involving 102 cases. This week, the dashboard shows 39 outbreaks involving 219 cases. 
For Cape May County, the state dashboard indicates there was one school outbreak involving three individuals; however, the dashboard’s figures only represent the tip of the iceberg in terms of Covid infections with which the schools are dealing.
The dashboard is designed to only show outbreaks that meet a complicated definition that proves the cases are linked to in-school spread. Cases of Covid infection impacting school students or staff that cannot be linked positively to in-school spread are not reported.
Cape May County
About half of Cape May County’s publicschool districts have local dashboards on their websites informing the public about Covid cases in theirschools, even if those cases do not meet the state requirements of proven in-school spread.
When the Herald examined those numbers Oct. 1, they presented a more involved picture of Covid presence than one gets from looking at the state dashboard. Each school district reports its numbers differently.
In Upper Township, the dashboard numbers, as of Oct. 1, show seven positive Covid cases, with three at the primary level, two at the elementary level, and two at the middle level. Across all levels, 19 individuals are in isolation due to close contact outside of school and seven due to close contact inside of school.
Dennis Township reports only positive cases and shows, as of Sept. 30, that 12 students and one staff member contracted Covid since school began Sept. 7.
The picture at Lower Township Elementary School District ranges across four schools showing, as of Sept. 23, 14 active studentand 2 active staff cases, 44 cumulative studentand 15 cumulative staff cases since the start of the school year, and 127 students and five staff in quarantine. 
North Wildwood’s Margaret Mace School is reporting three positive cases since the beginning of the school year, as of Sept. 29.
As of Sept. 26, Lower Cape May Regional School District lists three positive student cases in the high school, with 10 students quarantined, and four positive student cases in the middle school, with one student in quarantine. There is also one staff member in quarantine.
A page at the Avalon and Stone Harbor combined website says it will display information on Covid cases in both districts. It shows no cases since the beginning of the school year, as of Oct. 1.
The other six municipal school districts in the county, along with the county’s Technical School District, have no available information on Covid infections on their websites. Schools are not required to maintain a local dashboard.
The available number of students with positive Covid infections in the seven districts that provide information is probably low, given that many of the district’s dashboards have not been updated with more recent data. 
The state dashboard summary of Cape May County presents a misleading picture because of its formula meant to show only cases of proven in-school spread.
No comprehensive picture will be available to the public unless the state starts reporting the presence of Covid infections in schools regardless of how the infection was contracted. 
The other alternative would be for all school districts to maintain local dashboards and update them more frequently.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.