After holiday break, MPS reports over 60 new COVID cases Monday and a school closure
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Returning from Thanksgiving break, Milwaukee Public Schools reported over 60 students and staff members testing positive for COVID-19 Monday, and announced the temporary closure of Bay View Montessori School's Upper Campus due to a higher concentration of cases.
Students at the Bay View school, which serves grades 1-7, will transition to virtual learning Tuesday and return in person Dec. 10. MPS schools are supposed to make the transition when 3% of the school population tests positive in a two-week period.
During virtual learning, families can pick up meals between 11 a.m. and noon from "Stop, Grab and Go" sites with no pre-order needed. Staff are expected to work from the building and reach out to students and families with instructions for virtual learning.
Weekly COVID case numbers have ebbed and flowed for the district, with a peak weekly count of 284 in late September, and a lesser peak of 129 in early November. Counts have declined the past two weeks, with just 85 cases reported last week, nearly the lowest since school began this fall.
City-wide, county-wide and statewide, COVID cases have been rising for most of November. On Monday, COVID-related hospitalizations in Wisconsin hit a new high for 2021 — 1,432 patients — according to the Wisconsin Hospital Association .
Health officials have expressed concern about the potential for cases to continue rising through winter, as more people gather indoors and new variants circulate. The Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association has repeatedly called on Health Commissioner Kirsten Johnson to issue an indoor mask mandate to curb community spread.
With all children ages 5 and up now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, MPS leaders are hoping vaccinations will also help reduce cases and keep schools open for in-person learning.
Milwaukee school board members recently approved a plan to offer $100 payments to the families of students ages 5-11 who get vaccinated.
Families can find vaccine appointments at vaccines.gov, or utilize walk-in clinics run by the Milwaukee Health Department with details at city.milwaukee.gov/CovidVax. The state health department also offers a multilingual hotline to help residents find appointments: 844-684-1064.
Contact Rory Linnane at rory.linnane@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @RoryLinnane.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: MPS reports 60 COVID cases and Bay View Montessori Upper Campus closure
