Mitchell School District weekly COVID-19 update

COVID Report by Building: Data as of 11.13.2020.

Three different categories of affected students/employees are included here:

  • Active Case Count (Those with active cases of COVID-19.)
  • Total Confirmed Case Count (Both active and recovered cases.)
  • Recovered Case Count (Those who have now recovered from a case of COVID-19.)

Longfellow:

Active Cases:      2

Total Confirmed Cases: 5

Recovered Count Case: 3

Gertie Belle Rogers:

Active Cases:      3

Total Confirmed Cases: 5

Recovered Count Case: 2

L.B. Williams:

Active Cases:      2

Total Confirmed Cases: 14

Recovered Count Case: 12

Mitchell Middle School:

Active Cases:      5

Total Confirmed Cases: 19

Recovered Count Case: 14

Mitchell High School:

Active Cases:      9

Total Confirmed Cases: 39

Recovered Count Case: 30

Numbers include student and employee confirmed cases.  All confirmed cases are quarantined from school, in most cases well before test results are received, throughout the DOH-recommended period.

Since I released today’s weekly report, I’ve had questions about the Active Case Counts in our schools. Allow me to clarify those numbers:

  1. The school district does not generate these numbers. They come from the Department of Education through the Department of Health. The numbers we receive are exactly what we report.
  2. There is almost certainly a lag time between the identification of a confirmed case and its reporting. Thus, though the numbers are only a day behind the reporting date, given the number of cases in the state at this time, it does take some time for the confirmed cases to be added to the totals at each school. Since numbers are currently on the rise, this means that reported cases are, in all likelihood, lower than actual, real-time cases. At some point, when numbers are falling, this may also mean that reported cases will be higher than actual, real-time cases.
  3. Finally, the school district, as it identifies active cases and ‘close contacts,’ immediately sends identified students home, i.e. into quarantine. Thus, individuals in our community become immediately aware of such students even though they won’t be identified in state reports for some time.

I hope this helps clarify our reports on active case counts.

Like the numbers in our community, county, state, and nation, the numbers in our school district are definitely on the rise.  Currently, we have been able to handle the increases through our normal measures and staffing.  It is possible that sometime in the coming weeks, we may need to move classrooms, schools, or the district to an eLearning format.  If that does occur, we will issue an announcement to that effect as far in advance as possible in order to allow everyone sufficient time to plan. At this time, however, school remains in session with students physically present in classrooms.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Sincerely,

Joseph Graves, Superintendent of Schools