COVID-19 cases declined last week among K-12 students and staff in Indiana schools, according to data posted Monday by the State Department of Health.
The state’s COVID-19 dashboard showed 2,906 student cases, a 14% drop over the previous week. There were 155 positive cases among teachers and 257 among staff. That compares to 182 teacher cases and 317 staff cases in data released last week.
Most cases date back to last week, but some are older.
It marked the fourth straight week for the decrease in cases. The decline in comes as more schools require face masks to help prevent the virus spread and reduce the need for quarantining students and staff.
Locally, Lake Central High School continued its streak of a fourth straight week with no student, teacher or staff infections. The Gary West Side Leadership Academy also didn’t report any student, teacher or staff cases.
Hobart High reported five new student cases and none among teachers and staff. Portage High and Crown Point High also reported five new student cases each and none among teachers and staff.
At Valparaiso High, there were six new student cases and none among teachers and staff.
Cases among teachers and staff are lower because many adults have had access to vaccines longer than children. In April, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 80% of educators had been vaccinated.
The CDC recommends children ages 12-and-above get a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to help protect against infection and to stop the spread of the virus.
Indiana’s vaccine dashboard reported 33% of children ages 12-15 were fully vaccinated and 42% of teens ages 16-19 were vaccinated.
The state dashboard said schools have reported 32,963 student cases this year; 1,693 among teachers and 2,555 among staff members.
There were 58 schools reporting no cases and 1,867 with one or more cases. There were 440 schools still not reporting to the state.
Meanwhile, Indiana University Northwest reported 7 new student cases and one among staff.
Purdue Northwest reported 3 student cases and 2 among faculty and staff.
Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
