REGION — As of Tuesday morning, two schools in School Administrative District have reported COVID-19 outbreaks, Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School in Paris with seven and Guy E. Rowe School in Norway with four.
Exposures at OHCHS are trending down since last week, when the SAD 17 quarantine report listed 13 positive cases there, with 54 students in quarantine. By Sept. 28 only 18 were in quarantine.
Guy E. Rowe School reported four positive cases of COVID-19 and 54 students and staff in quarantine on Sept. 28. Nicole Carter / Advertiser Democrat
Rowe, which was the hardest hit of Oxford Hills’ elementary schools during the 2021-2021 year has 53 students and one staff member quarantining this week. On Sept. 23 only two students were quarantined and the school reported one positive case.
The report breaks out quarantine numbers by students and staff as well as confirmed and probable cases. It does not distinguish if the cases reported are students or staff.
One week ago, Oxford Hills Middle School and Oxford Elementary School both had reported outbreaks, of four and eight cases, respectively. The numbers district-wide of cases was 32 and reported quarantines were 156 students and four staff.
As of Sept. 28, 140 students and eight teachers are quarantining due to exposure to the virus, with 22 cases district-wide.
Superintendent Monica Henson said on Monday that she is pleased that the impact of the virus on schools is low, crediting face coverings, social distancing and newly replaced HVAC filters.
“The numbers speak for themselves,” Henson said. “Almost all transmission of the virus has been outside of our schools, where protocols are not as high.”
She said that she knew of only one case where someone was infected by another within their school. Henson also stressed that all students need to be monitored every morning for symptoms such as congestion, sore throat or fever. Any children or staff exhibiting symptoms must stay home.
In Oxford County, people under the age of 29 account for 38.6% of COVID cases, adults between 30 and 59 make up 42.1% and those over the age of 60 19.3%, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control’s online dashboard.
In July Oxford County had 50 reported cases. The number jumped to 188 in August and more than doubled from August to September, with 447 cases reported between Sept. 1 and Sept. 27.
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