Compared to last school year, the Jonathan Alder School District in Plain City has had a significant number of COVID-19 cases since classes began three weeks ago.
As of Wednesday, the district's COVID dashboard stated that 79 students and staff have had the virus since school started on August 18.
A spokesperson for the district said they had around 120 cases among students and staff last school year. That means the number of COVID cases they have had in the first three weeks of this school year is over 60% of the number they had in the entire previous year.
Currently, 221 students and staff are quarantined after possible exposure and 50 have tested positive the virus.
Out of the district’s over 2,600 students and staff, that comes out to about 2% that now have the virus. Nearby Dublin City Schools, with nearly 17,000 students and staff, reports approximately 0.6% have tested positive for the virus.
The Jonathan Alder spokesperson declined to comment further but confirmed that the schools do not require face masks to be worn.
The school board meets next week.