East Haven Schools Record Over 200 Coronavirus Cases

EAST HAVEN, CT — Since the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, the East Haven School District has reported, as of Friday, 202 cases of COVID-19.

But with 2793 students in the district, Pre-K through grade 12, the total case number represents just an 0.30 percent infection rate, according to the schools' coronavirus tracker. The methodology for that positivity rate is not explained.

Of the total enrollment, nearly a third of students are working remotely while 1,970 students are doing full, in-person classes, save for inclement weather and other issues, mostly tech-related, remote learning school days, of which there have been quite a few.

From the beginning of the school year, local health officials and district administrators have held fast to their claim that in-person learning is safer and better for students. East Haven is one of a handful of neighboring districts that opted to do full in-person learning, with a remote option for families.

There have been school shutdowns and at different times, mostly after holidays, sometimes up to 100 or more staff and students were quarantined, in some cases, several classes worth. And, a group of teachers held a party where a host was infected with COVID-19.

Officials hold that there has been no in-school transmission of COVID-19 and that all cases in the schools, through contact tracing, can be tracked to community spread, largely from social gatherings and sports, health officials have said.

The district's live COVID-19 tracker as posted late Friday afternoon.