JCPS seeing rise in COVID

COVID-19 cases are rising among staff and students in Jefferson County Public Schools, but there are no immediate plans to cancel classes, a district spokesperson said Wednesday.

JCPS spokesperson Mark Hebert said there were 187 positive COVID-19 cases among staff and students by the end of the day Tuesday, an increase from the previous week. He said the district is currently monitoring case levels, but is "not concerned" about an outbreak or a new variant of the virus.

"While that’s an increase over the previous week, we expected a hike in cases once students and staff were back in school and congregating," Hebert said.

Two districts in the state — Magoffin County Schools and the Lee County School District — both closed their schools for two days in the past week due to the attendance drop caused by viruses, including COVID-19 and influenza, officials said.

Scott Lockard, public health director for the Kentucky River District Health Department, which serves Lee County and six others in eastern Kentucky, told USA TODAY that ever since the pandemic started, there has generally been a rise in illnesses when schools first go back into session as people return to large gatherings.

“There was a lot of illness in the county, and the absentee rate got up to the level where the school system felt it justified closing,” Lockard told USA TODAY.

JCPS previously used the county level of COVID-19 community spread to make decisions, including universal masking.

Hebert says the district has continued monitoring this year cases and asked staff and families to report positive COVID-19 cases or any other disease to have "an accurate picture of how our community and schools are being impacted."

Staff and students can get a COVID-19 test with the school nurse and families can get test kids from the district, he said.

Krista Johnson contributed to this article. Reach Ana Rocío Álvarez Bríñez at [email protected]; follow her on Twitter at @SoyAnaAlvarez.