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In Essex County, school districts in Montclair, West Orange and North Caldwell are among those that recently closed schools temporarily due to rising COVID-19 cases.
In neighboring Morris County, Riverdale and Rockaway moved to all-remote learning in recent weeks after students or teachers tested positive for the virus. Numerous other districts have announced additional cases.
But, the state’s COVID-19 dashboard lists both Essex and Morris as having zero school outbreaks since the start of the school year.
Why?
The confusion stems from the state’s definition of “school outbreak" — which New Jersey narrowly defines as cases in which local contact tracers determined two or more students, teachers or school staff caught the virus while on school property or during non-sport school activities.
There have been 56 school outbreaks involving 239 cases statewide since classrooms began reopening in late August, according to the state’s latest numbers. Most of New Jersey’s counties are listed as having three outbreaks or less.
Many of the cases families hear about in their own schools are never included in the total outbreak numbers.
Students and teachers who caught the coronavirus off of school grounds from relatives or friends, at parties or at other outside activities are not counted in the outbreak totals, state officials said. Students who transmitted the virus at school sports practices are also not included in the statistics.
“The vast majority of the cases we see continue to be linked to out-of-school activities,” Gov. Phil Murphy said as the latest numbers were released at his coronavirus media briefing Wednesday.
Schools like those in Montclair, West Orange, North Caldwell, Riverdale and Rockaway that recently announced COVID-19 cases won’t show up in the weekly school outbreak numbers unless contact tracers can determine those who tested positive passed the virus to each other at school.
Why isn’t the state releasing total coronavirus numbers for schools?
New Jersey has not been publicly tracking how many students, teachers or school staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 statewide.
It’s likely that number is in the hundreds or thousands. A database compiled by the National Education Association lists more than 300 New Jersey schools that have announced at least one COVID-19 case in letters and emails to students and teachers.
But state health officials have said they are not tracking the total number of COVID-19 cases in schools because they were always expected cases would show up in schools once they reopened if the virus was continuing to spread in the state.
Instead, health officials are more concerned about tracking confirmed outbreaks in schools because high numbers of in-school outbreaks would show if keeping schools open is helping drive up coronavirus cases statewide.
So far, the outbreak numbers have not been alarming, the governor has said. The 56 outbreaks reported so far is relatively low considering the state has more than 3,000 school buildings.
Still, Murphy said every case is taken seriously and he applauded everyone who is trying to balance safety with keeping schools open.
“I think we all understand the stress that comes with this, whether it’s the educators who are at the front lines, moms and dads, superintendents, administrators, the kids themselves,” Murphy said. “This is not a normal school year.”
Which counties have had the most outbreaks?
Only Essex and Morris counties have reported no school outbreaks.
The 56 confirmed school outbreaks were in:
- Atlantic County: 1 school outbreak (2 cases)
- Bergen County: 7 school outbreaks (total of 19 cases)
- Burlington County: 4 school outbreaks (total of 10 cases)
- Camden County: 9 school outbreaks (total of 54 cases)
- Cape May County: 3 school outbreaks (total of 10 cases)
- Cumberland County: 1 school outbreak (3 cases)
- Gloucester County: 4 school outbreaks (total of 18 cases)
- Hudson County: 2 school outbreaks (total of 10 cases)
- Hunterdon County: 1 school outbreak (3 cases)
- Mercer County: 1 school outbreak (2 cases)
- Middlesex County: 1 school outbreak (3 cases)
- Monmouth County: 2 school outbreaks (total of 4 cases)
- Ocean County: 5 school outbreaks (total of 23 cases)
- Passaic County: 2 school outbreak (total of 19 cases)
- Salem County: 4 school outbreaks (total of 18 cases)
- Somerset County: 2 school outbreaks (total of 4 cases)
- Sussex County: 3 school outbreaks (total of 7 cases)
- Union County: 1 school outbreak (23 cases)
- Warren County: 3 school outbreaks (total of 7 cases)
Why don’t we know the names of schools with outbreaks?
Citing the need to protect the privacy of teachers and students, state officials have not released the names of any of the schools that have had confirmed outbreaks.
They have also not released the dates of the outbreaks or any details about how the virus was transmitted in schools that are supposed to have social distancing measures and mask requirements in place.
How many schools have closed due to COVID-19 cases?
The state is not tracking how many schools have shut down temporarily and switched to virtual learning due to coronavirus cases.
Since the start of the school year, dozens of schools have announced either short closures for cleaning for lengthier 14-day shut downs to allow people to quarantine, according to lists compiled by NJ Advance Media.
In recent weeks, districts that have either closed schools or announced they will stay all-remote include Elmwood Park, Delran, Evesham Township, Cherry Hill, East Brunswick, Old Bridge, Piscataway, Woodbridge, Keyport, Marlboro, Middletown, Bound Brook, Westfield and Phillipsburg.
Several larger districts, including Newark, Paterson and Jersey City, have been all-remote since the start of the school year and plan to stay that way until at least January or February.
How many school districts still have in-person classes?
There are currently 529 school districts offering hybrid instruction with some students going to school at least a few days a week, state officials said Wednesday. Another 99 districts are fully open for in-person classes, 145 districts are all-remote and 38 are using a combination of plans across different school buildings or grades.
Those numbers include public schools, charter schools and private schools that serve students with disabilities. They do not include Catholic schools, religious schools, prep schools or other private K-12 institutions, which were not required to file reopening plans with the state.
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Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com.
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2 of N.J.’s largest counties have had no COVID-19 school outbreaks, state says. Here’s why that’s confusing. - NJ.com
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