Coronavirus: Clark, Champaign district numbers double in a week with 80 cases

Ten Clark County and five Champaign County school districts reported new cases of COVID-19, according to the Ohio Department of Health’s COVID-19 school district dashboard’s latest update.

In total, 80 students and staff cases were reported between the two counties on Thursday, which is double from last week’s 47 cases on Nov. 12.

Clark County Educational Service Center, Clark-Shawnee Local School District, Emmanuel Christian Academy, Global Impact STEM Academy, Greenon Local School District, Northeastern Local School District, Northwestern Local School District, Springfield City School District, Springfield-Clark County Joint Vocational School, Tecumseh Local School District, Graham Local School District, Mechanicsburg Exempted Village School District, Triad Local School District, Urbana City School District and West Liberty-Salem Local School District all reported new cases.

Clark-Shawnee reported the highest number of cases – 19 total, including 14 students and five staff. Springfield followed with 18 cases, which included nine students and nine staff.

Clark County ESC reported one staff cases; Emmanuel Christian Academy reported one student and one staff case; GISA reported two student cases; Greenon reported one student and three staff cases; Northeastern reported two student cases; Northwestern reported three student and six staff cases; ; Springfield-Clark County reported three student and one staff case; Tecumseh reported six student and five staff cases; Graham reported two student and one staff case; Mechanicsburg reported two student cases; Triad reported one student case; Urbana reported one student case; and West Liberty-Salem reported one student case.

The increase in school cases mirror the rapid rise across the county and around the state.

Gov. Mike DeWine announced a statewide overnight curfew of 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. that went into effect Thursday as part of the effort to slow the spread of the virus.

The Clark County Board of Health approved a 28-day stay-at-home advisory to be effective through Dec. 27.

“When you are not going to work and you are not going to school and you are not getting food or the necessities of life, the board wants you to consider staying home. Basically hunkering down for the next 28 days,” Clark County Combined Health District Commissioner Charles Patterson said.

Several school districts have adjusted their learning options to offer hybrid learning for students that previoulsy chose in-person learning.

Cases reported on the dashboard lag one week, meaning cases reported on Thursday were from the week of Nov. 10-16.

The dashboard tracks cases of COVID-19 in all public and private K-12 schools across the state. Data displayed on the board includes all student and staff cases broken into two categories: new and cumulative. The board is updated each Thursday.

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