Texas school coronavirus cases rising, new data show

The number of Texas students testing positive for the coronavirus has risen every week since the start of classes, as more districts reopen schoolhouse doors, according to state data released Wednesday.

There are 1,212 new confirmed coronavirus cases among Texas students and 660 new cases among teachers and staff for the week ending Sept. 20. The previous week saw 1,046 positive tests among students and 859 among staff.

In total, an estimated 3,445 Texas students and 2,850 staff members have tested positive since the school year began.

The percentage of students who are testing positive remains low, at 0.31% of the estimated 1.1 million who are back in school buildings or are participating in-person in sports and other extracurricular activities. That number is based on in-person attendance provided by the state last week, which was not updated Wednesday.

The percentage of teachers and staff back on campuses who tested positive was 0.36%.

Wednesday’s data — the state’s second release of coronavirus cases in schools — was supposed to include cases by district, but the state’s school coronavirus dashboard had not updated with that information by Wednesday evening.

“It’s expected that as schools reopen cases are going to increase,” Dr. Mark Escott, interim health authority for Austin Public Health, said Wednesday. “We’re not going to be able to completely avoid cases in the school setting. The priority is to avoid large outbreaks. So, if we can limit these to small clusters of a few cases, then I think that will be a success in terms of our school strategies.”

Escott said the local school cases are almost exclusively attributable to sports and other extracurricular activities, students who have been in congregant settings. As more students return to school, it’s critical they wear masks, keep social distance from one another, wash their hands often and avoid touching their faces, he said.

Cases likely higher

Schools were required to start reporting confirmed COVID-19 cases to the state Sept. 8 and must do so weekly. The initial report also had to include any previously confirmed cases since reopening campuses, dating back to the week ending Aug. 2. In the first week, only one student case was reported.

The state data does not include cases among students and teachers who are learning and teaching remotely. The state snapshot also does not indicate the severity of the cases or whether campuses have had to close temporarily because of positive cases. At least three Texas schools are known to have shuttered as precautionary measures due to the virus.

The total number of cases likely is higher as school districts rely on families and staff members to voluntarily report confirmed cases and some who carry the virus are asymptomatic. Children also are tested at lower rates. Texas does not require students and staff to be tested and there are no districts in the state known to be doing so.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, there have been about 588,000 confirmed cases reported among children, representing about 10% of the cases nationwide, Between 0.2% and 8% of all child cases resulted in hospitalization, though only half of the states are reporting such data, according to the academy.

In Central Texas

Most Central Texas school districts, including Austin, Bastrop, Dripping Springs, Eanes, Georgetown, Hays, Hutto, Lake Travis, Leander, Pflugerville, Manor and Round Rock, have created dashboards to report cases.

The Austin district on Wednesday launched its COVID-19 school dashboard that gives coronavirus numbers for staff members, students and others, such as contractors, who have been on campuses, as well as new active cases and exposures, and cumulative cases and exposures. The dashboard shows three Austin district students and one staff member tested positive for the coronavirus last week. In total, there have been eight cases and 146 cumulative exposures since the district reopened for online classes Sept. 8.

The Austin district data don’t include cases among students and teachers who are off campus and participating in remote education.

Less than 1% of the district’s 80,000 students, spread among about 125 campuses, have returned for in-person learning because they had no access at home to the internet or a computer. More students will begin to return to campuses starting Oct. 5.

However, the Austin district will not provide the number of cases broken down by campus, as most other local districts are doing, citing student privacy. Austin campus principals will notify families if there is a confirmed case or exposure at a school, as they do with other infections.

Students in Eanes, Lake Travis, Leander, Pflugerville, Round Rock and other districts returned to classrooms in recent weeks and all reported their first coronavirus cases shortly after reopening though cases remain few in those districts so far.

Travis County children and teens ages 10-19 are testing positive for the coronavirus at a rate three times higher than that of the general public, Escott said in an update last week. About 14% of 107 test results for those ages 10-19 came back positive, Escott said.

This week, Travis County’s overall coronavirus positivity test rate is 4.4%, down from the previous week’s rate of 4.8%, but cases have been rising since the beginning of the month.

Central Texas school coronavirus cases

District | Student cases | Staff cases

Austin | 3 | 2

Bastrop | 1 | 1

Dripping Springs | 0 | 0

Eanes | 4 | 1

Georgetown | 5 | 1

Hays | 0 | 1

Hutto | 0 | 0

Lake Travis | 3 | 0

Leander | 8 | 2

Manor | 0 | 0

Pflugerville | 0 | 0

Round Rock | 1 | 3

*Weekly cases as of 9/23/20