That means last week (Oct. 12-18) accounted for 26.7% of all school cases reported so far, an outsized chunk for a seven-day period.
Local data followed the same pattern. In the greater Dayton area, schools reported 115 new COVID-19 cases last week (55 students and 60 staff), according to the ODH dashboard. With the local cumulative total at 418 school cases, last week accounted for 27.5% of the total.
Gov. Mike DeWine has repeatedly said students and schools are doing a good job of following health guidelines while they’re in session. He said the spread is happening in other ways in Ohio communities. Ohio’s seven-day average for positive test rate hit 5.0% Thursday. That’s lower than many other states, but the highest Ohio has been since mid-August.
“We can turn this around,” DeWine said. “COVID-19 is multiplying very quickly and it will continue unless we do something different. More of us need to wear masks, and more of us need to be careful. We’ve done it before, and we can do it again.”
Local schools data
Thursday’s dashboard appeared to fix most of the data errors from last week’s release, but the numbers themselves weren’t great.
The local schools with the most new COVID-19 cases reported Oct. 12-18 included Fairborn (11) and Troy (7), which have had higher case numbers from the beginning, but also Lebanon (9) and Centerville (6), which had fairly few cases in the dashboard to this point.
Montgomery County had relatively few school cases reported in the first few weeks of the dashboard, as many of its schools held classes fully online. But teachers and other staff have been returning in some schools as they prepare to reopen, and that was reflected in the data released Thursday.
Centerville, West Carrollton, Huber Heights and Dayton each reported four new staff COVID cases last week. Dayton Public Schools has reported 11 total staff cases since Sept. 7, the second-highest number for school employees locally, behind Fairborn’s 19.
Dayton’s school board approved the purchase of $160,000 in plexiglass dividers Tuesday night, and the district received 30,000 N-95 masks from FEMA at no cost. Most students who are returning in-person will come back Nov. 9.
“We’ve been trying to answer the questions that come at us every day, but I must say that no one has all the answers right now,” DPS Superintendent Elizabeth Lolli said. “It’s a no-win situation in this COVID environment. We’re doing the best we can to serve our students to make sure everyone stays safe, and I just need to thank everyone for their grace.”
The Dayton-area schools that have reported the most combined student and staff cases since state tracking began Sept. 7 are Fairborn (39), Springboro (28), Troy (24) and Miamisburg (20).
A statewide order issued in early September says schools have to contact their county health department within 24 hours of being notified of a COVID-19 case in a student or school employee. County health departments then report that data to ODH, which releases updated statistics each Thursday.
Many schools are reporting their numbers of COVID cases on their websites. Those numbers don’t always match the state data for two primary reasons — school websites might be reporting cases from a different time window, and some schools include cases of fully remote students and staff, while the state dashboard does not included those cases.
COVID-19 CASES TIED TO LOCAL SCHOOLS
For each school or district, the “new” number is the combined student and staff COVID-19 cases reported for Oct. 12-18, while the total includes all cases since formal reporting began Sept. 7.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY (41 new cases, 138 total)
Centerville — 6 new, 9 total
MVCTC — 5 new, 12 total
Miamisburg — 4 new, 20 total
Dayton — 4 new, 11 total
West Carrollton — 4 new, 10 total
Spring Valley Acad. — 4 new, 8 total
Huber Heights — 4 new, 5 total
Vandalia-Butler — 3 new, 11 total
Bishop Leibold — 1 new, 5 total
Mad River — 1 new, 5 total
Oakwood — 1 new, 4 total
Brookville — 1 new, 4 total
Northmont — 1 new, 3 total
East Dayton Christian — 1 new, 2 total
Gloria Dei Montessori — 1 new, 1 total
Kettering — 0 new, 5 total
Alter — 0 new, 5 total
Carroll — 0 new, 5 total
New Lebanon — 0 new, 4 total
St. Charles — 0 new, 2 total
Liberty HS — 0 new, 1 total
St. Helen — 0 new, 1 total
Valley View — 0 new, 1 total
Ascension — 0 new, 1 total
Chaminade Julienne — 0 new, 1 total
DECA — 0 new, 1 total
Miami Valley Acad. — 0 new, 1 total
Jefferson, Trotwood and Northridge — no cases listed
MIAMI COUNTY (23 new cases, 104 total)
Troy — 7 new, 24 total
Milton-Union — 3 new, 5 total
Tipp City — 2 new, 12 total
Bethel — 2 new, 6 total
Bradford — 2 new, 3 total
Miami Co. ESC — 2 new, 3 total
Piqua — 1 new, 17 total
Covington — 1 new, 9 total
Upper Valley CC — 1 new, 4 total
Newton — 1 new, 3 total
Piqua Catholic — 1 new, 3 total
Troy Christian — 0 new, 5 total
Miami East — 0 new, 4 total
St. Patrick — 0 new, 4 total
Nicholas — 0 new, 2 total
GREENE COUNTY (20 new cases, 74 total)
Fairborn — 11 new, 39 total
Greene Co. JVS — 3 new, 5 total
Bellbrook — 2 new, 7 total
Beavercreek — 1 new, 14 total
Xenia — 1 new, 3 total
Yellow Springs — 1 new, 1 total
Bethlehem Lutheran — 1 new, 1 total
Greeneview — 0 new, 3 total
St. Luke — 0 new, 1 total
Cedar Cliff — no cases listed
NORTHERN WARREN COUNTY (16 new cases, 73 total)
Lebanon — 9 new, 11 total
Springboro — 3 new, 28 total
Fenwick — 2 new, 8 total
Franklin — 1 new, 12 total
Waynesville — 1 new, 2 total
Carlisle — 0 new, 6 total
Warren Co. JVS — 0 new, 5 total
CHESS Christian — 0 new, 1 total
PREBLE COUNTY (12 new cases, 27 total)
Eaton — 4 new, 6 total
Preble Co. ESC — 4 new, 4 total
National Trail — 3 new, 10 total
Twin Valley — 1 new, 1 total
Tri-County N. — 0 new, 4 total
Preble Shawnee — 0 new, 2 total
SOUTHWEST CLARK COUNTY (5 new cases, 5 total)
Greenon — 3 new, 3 total
Tecumseh — 2 new, 2 total
Source: Ohio Department of Health
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