Hoosier classrooms are now reporting thousands of new COVID-19 cases, setting a pandemic record.
The Indiana Department of Health’s school cases dashboard updates every Monday. This week it recorded 3,504 new student COVID-19 cases – 3,028 of which were reported in the last seven days.
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Ten schools reported 20 or more cases, including two that reported 35 cases: Highland Hills Middle School, just outside of Louisville, and Noblesville East Middle School, north of Indianapolis.
In the last two weeks, Noblesville East has reported 59 new student cases – the highest in the state for a single school.
The previous record for most student cases reported statewide in a single week was set in November 2020, with 2,539 cases.
Despite the record-breaking total, the average of new cases for the last seven days was still less than two new cases per school. A little more than 40 percent of the 2,218 schools that provide data to the state have reported fewer than five student COVID-19 cases, with nearly a quarter reporting zero.
Teachers and staff did not see the same record-breaking numbers as the student population – though cases still rose to late-January levels.
Contact Lauren at lchapman@wfyi.org or follow her on Twitter at @laurenechapman_.