Massachusetts education officials on Friday released their first report detailing the number of students and staff at schools who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
According to the report, districts across the state reported 63 COVID-19 cases among students and 34 among staff members. The reporting period was Sept. 24 to Sept. 30.
"We're having cases kind of pop-up on an isolated and small basis, where a town or a district will have one case and they're able to identify that person, or isolate and quarantine them," State Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley said Friday.
The number of cases reported are spread out over 61 school districts, collaboratives and special education schools.
"You may see individual schools have one case here or there, but we haven't seen multiple cases in schools to the point where we would be activating our mobile response unit," Riley said.
The numbers only take into account students who have participated in in-person or hybrid learning.
The commissioner said only seven school districts have more than one or two positive cases when counting both students and staff. He added that there's no evidence any of the positive cases have led to or have been the product of transmission within a school.
"At this time, the cases appear to be coming from outside of the school and being brought into the school," he said.
Riley said the protocols that have been put in place to keep students and staff safe, appear to be working.
"It's very early in the process, but what we've seen is the districts have been able to handle these cases very quickly," Riley said. "They've done a great job of following the protocols, with the isolation, the quarantining, the close contacts and they've been able to keep their schools open, so we're cautiously optimistic."
Below is the full list of coronavirus cases, by district:
Abington – 1 staff
Andover – 1 student, 1 staff
Attleboro – 3 students, 1 staff
Bedford – 1 student
Bellingham – 1 staff
Brockton – 3 staff
Brookline – 2 staff
Chelmsford – 3 students
East Bridgewater – 1 student, 1 staff
Everett – 1 staff
Fairhaven – 2 students
Gloucester – 2 students
Holyoke – 1 student, 1 staff
Hopkinton – 2 students
Hull – 1 student
Lawrence – 1 staff
Leicester – 1 student
Lowell – 1 student
Lynn – 1 student
Marlboro – 2 students
Marshfield – 2 students
Medford – 1 staff
Medway – 1 student
Natick – 1 student, 1 staff
Newburyport – 1 student
Peabody – 1 student
Plymouth – 4 students
Quincy – 2 students
Sherborn – 2 students
Shrewsbury – 2 students, 1 staff
Tewksbury – 1 student
Walpole – 1 student, 3 staff
Waltham – 1 student
Westfield – 1 staff
West Springfield – 1 student
Westwood – 1 student
Winchester – 2 students
Woburn – 1 student
Worcester – 4 staff
Conservatory Lab Charter – 1 staff
Foxboro Regional Charter – 1 staff
Lowell Community Charter – 2 students
Acton-Boxboro – 1 student
Freetown-Lakeville – 1 student
Groton-Dunstable – 1 student
Manchester-Essex Regional – 1 staff
Triton – 1 student
Bristol-Plymouth Regional Vocational Technical School – 1 staff
Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical – 1 student, 1 staff
Greater Lowell Regional Vocational Technical – 2 students
Nashoba Valley Regional Vocational Technical – 1 student
South Shore Regional Vocational Technical – 1 student
Southern Worcester County Regional Vocational Technical – 2 students
Whittier Regional Vocational Technical – 1 student
Central Massachusetts SPED Collaborative – 1 student
READS Collaborative – 1 staff
Judge Rotenberg School – 1 student
RFK Academy School – 1 student
Boston Higashi School – 2 staff
New England Center for Children – 1 staff
Melmark New England School – 1 staff
The Massachusetts Department of Education plans to update the list every Thursday, they said.
