COVID

Report: About 1,200 children have contracted COVID-19 so far during new school year

“That’s certainly not what we want to see, but it’s probably not unexpected.”

David L. Ryan/Globe staff

By Arianna MacNeill

1 minute to read

Just weeks into the new school year, students and staff are coming down with COVID-19, which isn’t unexpected.

In a report from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released Thursday, there were 1,226 cases among students in a population of roughly 920,000 across the state from Monday through Wednesday. The percent positivity was calculated at .13 percent.

For staff, there were 190 reported cases among an estimated 140,000 workers across all districts for a positivity rate of .14 percent.

The report doesn’t estimate how many of those cases came from transmission in school and from outside of it.

To curb infections, Dr. Richard Malley, a Boston Children’s Hospital Division of Infectious Diseases senior physician, recommended measures that the public has grown accustomed to – masks, social distancing, and good air circulation, as well as regular testing and vaccinations for those eligible, according to The Boston Globe.

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“Nobody is pleased to see that there’s an increase in the number of cases in schools,” he said, according to the Globe. “That’s certainly not what we want to see, but it’s probably not unexpected.”

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