North Country schools see slowing of new COVID-19 cases

WATERTOWN, N.Y. (WWTI) -- New COVID-19 cases in North Country schools are starting to slow as districts are halfway through February. This is following a significant rise in cases in the month of January following the holiday vacation. There have also been recent disputes on the State's mask mandate in schools. Governor Kathy Hochul and New York State officials are set to reassess the mandates in early March.

Below is a breakdown, by county, of cases confirmed between February 7 and February 14. There is also a total number of cases reported to NYDOH since the start of the 2021-2022 school year. All figures are compared to the state's previous report as of February 7.

Jefferson County

School District	New student cases	Student cases to-date	New teacher/staff cases	Teacher/staff cases to-date	Total
Alexandria	0	30	1	19	49
Belleville Henderson	1	94	1	34	128
Carthage	26	427	7	177	604
General Brown	5	296	2	47	343
Indian River	31	730	6	111	830
LaFargeville	3	89	1	20	109
Lyme	0	91	0	9	100
Sackets Harbor	5	83	0	17	100
South Jefferson	17	477	2	103	580
Thousand Islands	12	153	3	35	188
Watertown	35	1,185	1	251	1,436

Lewis County

School District	New student cases	Student cases to-date	New teacher/staff cases	Teacher/staff cases to-date	Total
Beaver River	1	117	1	49	166
Copenhagen	8	99	1	33	132
Harrisville	0	22	0	2	24
Lowville	6	347	0	58	405
South Lewis	5	205	4	53	258

St. Lawrence County

School District	New student cases	Student cases to-date	New teacher/staff cases	Teacher/staff cases to-date	Total
Brasher Falls	12	250	3	58	308
Canton	12	270	1	32	302
Clifton-Fine	3	35	3	20	55
Colton-Pierrepont	15	119	2	17	136
Edwards-Knox	5	127	2	42	169
Gouverneur	25	429	2	99	528
Hammond	2	37	0	11	48
Hermon-Dekalb	5	98	0	28	126
Heuvelton	5	77	1	25	102
Lisbon	0	67	0	11	78 *last reported on 1/28/22*
Madrid-Waddington	14	232	0	33	265
Massena	41	611	6	104	715
Morristown	2	66	1	19	86
Norwood-Norfolk	24	263	4	65	328
Ogdensburg	12	269	4	74	343
Parishville-Hopkinton	7	75	1	31	106
Potsdam	14	193	2	70	263

Following the holiday break in early January 2022, New York began plans to keep schools in person as COVID-19 cases spiked statewide. This included the distribution of COVID-19 testing kits and the implementation of "Test-to-Stay" protocols.

Beginning September 13, all schools in New York were required to report COVID-19 cases to the Department of Health on a daily basis. Following the start to this requirement, the DOH relaunched its COVID tracking website, as it was previously undergoing maintenance.