The COVID-19 surge that started among students and staff members at Oak Ridge Schools three weeks ago continued in the school week that ended Tuesday, with the highest number of recent cases reported among Jefferson Middle School students.
There have been five COVID-19 cases reported among Jefferson Middle School students since Thursday. That’s close to half of the cases reported in Oak Ridge Schools in the past week.
There have been two student cases reported at Robertsville Middle School since Thursday and one student and one staff member case reported at Oak Ridge High School.
A total of 12 cases were reported among students and staff members in Oak Ridge Schools in the school week between last Wednesday and this Tuesday. That matched the total of 12 cases in the previous week. There were nine cases the week before. That’s a total of 33 cases in the past three weeks, or 11 per week on average.
The past three weeks have been the worst of the pandemic so far for students and staff members in Oak Ridge Schools.
The school system has reported a total of 58 COVID-19 cases among students and staff members since the school year started. Of those, 46 have been among students and 12 have been among staff members. The school system said 39 cases are considered recovered, and 19 are current.
The highest number of cases, 24, have been at Oak Ridge High School. Twenty have been among students and four among staff members.
Jefferson Middle School has had the second-highest number of cases, 13, with 11 among students and two among staff members. Glenwood Elementary School has had eight cases (six student cases and two staff), and Robertsville Middle School has had six (five students and one staff).
Schools with two cases or fewer are Linden Elementary School (one student and one staff), Preschool (one student and one staff), Woodland Elementary School (two students), and Willow Brook Elementary School (one staff).
No cases have been reported among students and staff members at Secret City Academy.
Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers has said about 80 percent of COVID-19 cases in the schools have been due to activities outside of school. He recently said 85.2 percent of the student cases in Oak Ridge Schools have been confirmed to be non-school related. (The source of some exposures was unknown.)
The increase in cases among students and staff members in Oak Ridge Schools has occurred as cases have risen in Anderson County and Tennessee, with the number of new cases in October surpassing the earlier July peak.
Nationally, new cases have trended upward for the third time and reached dangerous new highs. On Tuesday, about 131,000 new cases were reported, a single-day record; roughly 62,000 people were hospitalized; and 1,347 deaths were reported, according to The COVID Tracking Project.
The Tennessee Department of Health reported 300 school age children in Anderson County (five to 18 years old) have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began March 20.
| School Week | Number of Cases |
| Week 1 (July 29-Aug. 4) | 3 |
| Week 2 (Aug 5-Aug 11) | 0 |
| Week 3 (Aug 12-Aug 18) | 4 |
| Week 4 (Aug 19-Aug 25) | 1 |
| Week 5 (Aug 26-Sept 1) | 5 |
| Week 6 (Sept 2-Sept 8) | 0 |
| Week 7 (Sept 9-Sept 15) | 2 |
| Week 8 (Sept 16-Sept 22) | 2 |
| Week 9 (Sept 23-Sept 29) | 2 |
| Week 10 (Sept 30-Oct 6) | 0 |
| Week 11 (Oct 7-Oct 13) | 0 |
| Week 12 (Oct 14-Oct 20) | 2 |
| Week 13 (Oct 21-Oct 27) | 9 |
| Week 14 (Oct 28-Nov 3) | 12 |
| Week 15 (Nov 4-Nov 10) | 12 |
More information will be added as it becomes available.
You can contact John Huotari, owner and publisher of Oak Ridge Today, at (865) 951-9692 or [email protected]
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