The number of COVID-19 cases in Lowndes County School District has more than doubled in the last two and a half weeks, according to information posted to the district’s website.
However, Superintendent Sam Allison said that while the total number of cases — 55 since Oct. 26 — is cause for concern, it is still a small number compared to the population of students and staff in the district as a whole.
“We’re right at 5,200 students, and within the schools probably 5(00) or 600 staff members. Even at that, you’re only talking about, not even a 10th (of the population),” he said.
“I don’t think we’re to a panic moment,” he later added. “I just think we still take it day by day and do the things we can to … try to make sure we’re not part of the spread, that we do the things to keep it from spreading and we follow the guidance of the Mississippi State Department of Health the best we can.”
School districts are required to report the number of COVID-19 cases among staff and students to MSDH weekly. LCSD, which gives students an option between virtual learning and in-person learning, goes a step further by posting the numbers to the district’s website at https://www.lowndes.k12.ms.us/.
While for most of the school year the number of cases per week stayed below 10, the numbers took a sudden jump from Oct. 26-30, when 27 staff members and students reported testing positive for the virus. The next school week, from Nov. 2-6, 28 cases were reported. The total number of cases reported for the entire year is 97.
MSDH spokesperson Liz Sharlot said in an email to The Dispatch that it is up to schools whether to have online or in-person learning, and Allison said he and other district officials have been in touch with MSDH for guidance and recommendations about how to handle the increase in cases.
He said two weeks is not enough time to judge whether to close the schools and send all students back to virtual learning and that numbers are increasing statewide as people become less careful about social distancing and wearing masks.
“It’s going up with the numbers within the state,” Allison said. “… I think you can’t make a judgment after two weeks.”
Increase in Lowndes County
Numbers in Lowndes County alone jumped more than 200 cases, from 1,799 on Oct. 23 — a week in which LCSD reported only nine new cases — to 2,004 on Monday.
Allison said while there could be some transmissions at school, he thinks the virus is primarily spreading off campus, because many of the students sent home for close contact with those who tested positive are not getting sick. He said the students and staff have been diligent about mask-wearing, hand-washing and other safety measures put in place to stop the spread of the virus.
“I think a lot of the transmission is happening outside of school from the best I can tell,” he said. “… Before COVID, I’ve seen the flu go through the building and send 20 kids home within an hour, because you know how contagious it is. We’re not seeing that at all.”
Other area school districts have also seen increases but at lower rates. Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District, which is roughly comparable to LCSD in size and also offers students a choice between virtual and in-person classes, had an increase of seven cases the week of Oct. 30 and only four last week, according to numbers on the district’s website. Columbus Municipal School District, which is located in Lowndes County but does not have traditional in-person classes, has had fewer than 25 cases as of Friday for the whole year.
About 200 LCSD students who had originally signed up for virtual learning at the beginning of the school year switched back to in-person classes in mid-October, The Dispatch previously reported. However, Allison said he does not believe that switch contributed to the increase in cases, because those students came back a couple of weeks before the increase started.
“Our numbers (in mid-October) were two and nine,” he said. “I think you can look at the numbers in the state and say, ‘Hey, the numbers are going up everywhere.’ … You can pick whatever you want, but I think our numbers are going to fall in line with what the numbers in the state have.”
LCSD school board president Robert Barksdale said he thinks board members will discuss the rising cases at the board’s monthly meeting Friday. He added that while the numbers are concerning, he has faith in the administration’s judgment to know when schools need to go back to all online learning, as the district did at the beginning of the pandemic from March to May.
“That’ll be up to the staff there, recommendations on what they would do,” he said. “… We’re not there every day, so we can’t make that call. We have faith in that administration to make the right (decision).”
Allison emphasized it is a district priority to keep in-person learning as an option for students.
“Is it concerning? Yes. We’ll just keep watching it,” he said. “I know that our kids need to be in school more than anything right now. Not going in the spring, we see gaps (in learning). It’s tough when you have to pull kids out. I still think the best thing is that face-to-face learning, the best we can. That’s our goal.”
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