COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Ohio schools saw a small decrease in new coronavirus cases this week, a day after Gov. Mike DeWine gave Ohioans a specific date when he hopes all K-12 schools can have students back in physical classrooms.
The Ohio Department of Health on Thursday reported 3,048 new cases of COVID-19 among students and staff members, bringing the state’s total this school year to 36,547. The increase in cases this week is the lowest since Nov. 12 and is more than 2,000 cases fewer than last week’s increase.
Cumulative COVID-19 cases reported by Ohio schools:
This month has seen the most coronavirus cases in Ohio schools than any of the four months that schools have been reporting cases. Nearly half of all cases have been reported in December.
COVID-19 cases reported by Ohio schools by month
Case data is reported to ODH on Sundays to be published on Thursdays, so cases published Thursday reflect last week. See more information on the data in the dropdown below:
Schools report cases among students and staff to ODH on Tuesdays, and ODH releases numbers on Thursdays at 2 p.m. However, the numbers a school reports to ODH may not be as recent as Tuesday.
Case criteria
ODH reports "new" and "cumulative" cases. Cases only move over to "cumulative" once the person is no longer COVID-positive. This means the number of "new" cases each week is not guaranteed to be the weekly difference between "cumulative" totals. More info
22,433 (61%) of Ohio’s school cases are students and 14,114 (39%) are staff members, which include teachers, administrators, coaches and support staff.
Cincinnati Public Schools, a district of more than 36,000 students, leads the state with 600 cases. Five Columbus area school districts are in the top 10.
1,416 of 2,774 schools, districts, private schools, vocational schools, preschools and other non-college institutions that the state tracks have reported cases. This is lower than the 1,424 total last week. NBC4 is waiting for a response from ODH about this discrepancy.
A quick comparison of the past two weeks shows the number of schools listed with cumulative cases this week is lower than on Dec. 17 in eight counties, including three counties that are completely missing:
| County | Decrease in schools reporting Dec. 17-24 |
|---|---|
| Ashtabula | 7 |
| Preble* | 6 |
| Scioto | 5 |
| Columbiana | 3 |
| Harrison* | 2 |
| Portage | 2 |
| Hamilton | 1 |
| Vinton* | 1 |
Gov. DeWine said during his coronavirus briefing on Wednesday that he wants all K-12 students in Ohio to have the option of returning to in-person school by March 1.
Schools have been using three general instructional methods during the coronavirus pandemic: fully remote learning, five-day in-person learning or a hybrid of the two. DeWine said Wednesday that 45% of Ohio’s public school students are currently learning remotely and other 26% are in hybrid learning.
“The vaccine gives us a tool that schools did not have, that educators did not have, that school boards did not have,” he said Wednesday. “And we’re going to make vaccines available to the schools to accomplish the goal of getting the kids back in school.”
DeWine said the state will offer vaccines “to all schools that want to go back or remain in person.” Vaccinations will then be offered to “all the adults in the building,” including teachers, bus drivers, custodians, clerical workers, cafeteria workers and more. The two vaccines available in the United States are not yet approved for children.
The governor said he could not offer a specific date when those vaccinations can begin, but his goal is they start in mid-January.
DeWine said it is “very understandable” that many districts have had to switch between learning methods because of staffing shortages and too many students being in quarantine, but only “a small minority” learn best virtually.
“I’ve been told by parents, by educators, that some of these children, because they’re out of class, have more mental health problems,” DeWine said, “they have more emotional problems.”
The governor acknowledged that a district’s learning model is ultimately up to the district, and that students who want to learn remotely should do so, but said “I believe it’s time to get all our children who want to be in class back in class.”
“These kids have really been hurt in some cases by not being in school,” DeWine said. “Some of them have gotten further behind, and quite candidly, according to the educators I talked to, some of the children who were already behind now have been most impacted and are further behind.”
Although discouraged by health officials, holiday traveling and family gatherings may increase Ohio’s coronavirus cases heading into 2021. This has the governor recommending that schools not return to in-person learning until a week into January, essentially extending the holiday break by one week.
“I would ask that schools take a look at this, and if that will work for them, I would like for them to do that,” DeWine said, because medical experts have told his coronavirus team that the extra week would create “a buffer between unintended holiday exposures, which may occur, and the classroom.”
