COVID cases are up in FCPS, coinciding with a county-level increase

Nov. 24—Coronavirus cases are up in Frederick County Public Schools — with 137 cases reported in the school system last week — the most since in-person classes resumed in August.

During the previous week, 123 positive COVID-19 cases were recorded, a jump from 71 in the first week of November. Fifty-six cases were reported during the last week of October.

"The numbers speak for themselves," FCPS spokesman Brandon Oland said Tuesday. "We've definitely seen more cases reported to us, both students and staff, over the last two weeks."

The school system's increase in cases coincides with a bump in Frederick County's positivity levels, which started rising in late October. As of Wednesday, the county's seven-day average positivity rate was 6.22 percent. Forty-one people were being treated in county hospitals due to COVID-19 — the most since late April.

It's hard to say exactly why this increase is occurring, Frederick County Health Department spokeswoman Rissah Watkins wrote in an email Tuesday. The state's average positivity levels have also been rising, though they stood at 3.9 percent on Wednesday — significantly lower than the county's.

One possible explanation for the rise in cases is that gatherings around Halloween allowed for increased virus transmission, Watkins wrote. Cases also increased around this time last year, she added, potentially because a drop in temperatures pushed more gatherings indoors.

"While many people feel like the pandemic is over, the virus is still circulating at high levels in our community, and we should continue to take steps to protect ourselves and our family and friends," she wrote.

Since the school system changed its quarantine guidelines on Oct. 13, allowing students to skip the quarantine period if they were masked at the time of their exposure to the virus, Oland said dramatically fewer students have had to quarantine. He doesn't suspect this rule change has contributed to the increase in cases reported to the school system.

Though the school system has had some outbreaks, they've almost all consisted of two or three total cases. FCPS still hasn't experienced a "huge event that could be traced to spread within the classrooms or really anywhere in our buildings," Oland said.

"That's good news," he added.

Oland said FCPS is doing all it can to suppress the spread of the virus — the school system has continued its contact tracing efforts and is still sharing information with the community at large, he said.

The system is also partnering with the health department to communicate information about COVID-19 vaccination clinics, he said, noting that every spot at the system's clinics have so far been filled. There will be three more clinics coming up after Thanksgiving break, he said, which goes through Friday.

As of Monday, 10 percent of the county's 5- to 11-year-olds — about 3,300 children — had received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, Watkins wrote in an email.

Reporter Jillian Atelsek contributed to this report.

Follow Angela Roberts on Twitter: @24_angier