This week saw Covid-19 cases at seven New Haven schools, as cases continue to rise in the city and its suburbs.
The school cases confirmed this week were affiliated with Bishop Woods, Clinton Avenue, Dr. Reginald Mayo Early Learning Center, Elm City Montessori, Metropolitan Business Academy, Sound School and Wexler-Grant. Both the Mayo Center and Elm City Montessori dealt with Covid-positive cases earlier in the year.
In most of the recent school-related cases, the New Haven Health Department found that the sick individual did not spread the virus to others.
None of these cases have been linked to transmission within school buildings, according to Jennifer Vazquez, the city’s director of public health nursing.
At Metro, Sound School and Elm City, however, the health department asked others to self-quarantine after potential exposure. At Sound School, eight people are quarantining and at Metro, seven are doing so.
The vast majority of New Haven Public Schools students are learning remotely and are not entering school buildings.
Elm City Montessori has had in-person classes this fall. As the district’s charter school, it has a separate governing structure from the rest of the district.
Bishop Woods and Clinton Avenue have in-person Special Education programs. The health department has not yet confirmed whether the Covid-19 cases there were related to those programs.
Although school buildings are closed to most students, teachers have chosen to stream their virtual classes from school buildings throughout the district. At Bishop Woods, around one-third of teachers are in their classrooms on any given day, Principal Dina Natalino said on a recent tour of the school.