School COVID numbers dropping
Welcome numbers from the DeSoto County School District (DCS) come from the weekly report on new coronavirus cases and quarantines found within the state’s largest public school district.
DCS has been updating weekly where new cases of COVID-19 and new quarantines have occurred by school. Monday’s report, entering the last week of school before spring break, had to be well received.
During the past week, ending Friday, March 5, DCS schools reported a total of seven new cases of coronavirus in the district and 63 new quarantines, likely the first full week of school in many weeks of the school year that had fewer than 10 new cases.
Only five campuses reported new cases and just two, DeSoto Central and Lewisburg high schools, each had two. The other single cases came from Hernando High School, Hernando Middle School, and Lake Cormorant Elementary.
Hernando Middle School had the most new quarantines at 17, followed by DeSoto Central High School with 15 and Hernando High School at 13 new quarantines.
District-wide, the number of staff members with a positive COVID-19 test during the week is five.
DCS officials stress the numbers do not include students who are quarantined by the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) for situations that are not related to school. It also does not include the private schools, such as Northpoint Christian and Sacred Heart schools, that are not part of DeSoto County Schools.
The weekly report is found on the DeSoto County Schools website.
Monday, MSDH reported 70 additional positive cases of coronavirus and no added death reports related to the virus. That brings the statewide total of cases to 297,651 and the number of death reports to 6,808.
DeSoto County has reported 19,831 cases and 231 deaths since the pandemic was declared last March.
As of Monday morning, MSDH reports 758,262 Mississippians have been vaccinated against coronavirus and 275,575 residents have been fully vaccinated. A total of 30,817 doses have been administered in DeSoto County. Nearly 1.1 million vaccines have been distributed in the state.
did they forget that everyone was home for 10 days due to weather? Surely this played a part in reduced numbers. The first week back after the snow days had fewer numbers but if you look at the 2 weeks consecutively the numbers DOUBLED the second week after the snow days.