Michigan Reports 9 New Coronavirus Outbreaks In Schools

The state of Michigan reported nine new outbreaks of the coronavirus at schools across the state Monday.

The nine new outbreaks reported Monday come after Michigan added just three new outbreaks each of the past few weeks, a steep decline after it had routinely reported more than 20 new outbreaks at schools for several weeks.

The outbreaks also come the day the state reported 2,843 new cases of the coronavirus and 20 additional COVID-19 deaths. The new figures bring the state's total coronavirus numbers to 538,377 coronavirus cases and 13,824 COVID-19 deaths. On Saturday, Michigan reported that more than 442,408 people in the state have recovered from the coronavirus.

According to state health officials, 10 students at Hastings High School in Barry County tested positive for the coronavirus.

Two students at Benzie Central Community Schools in Benzonia tested positive for the coronavirus.

Fourteen students at Lake Superior State University in Sault Sainte Marie have tested positive for the coronavirus.

In Eaton County, three people at Island City Academy in Eaton Rapids and three people at St. Gerrard in Lansing tested positive for the coronavirus.

One student and one staff member at Woodbridge Elementary in Zeeland tested positive for the coronavirus.

Sanilac County saw four people at Deckerville Schools and four students at Marlette Schools test positive for the coronavirus.

Ridge Wood Elementary School in Northville had two students test positive for the coronavirus.

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It's important to note that a coronavirus outbreak is different than a case. A COVID-19 outbreak is defined as two or more cases with a link by place and time indicating a shared exposure outside of a household.

The information provided by the state on Monday includes K-12, college and university school name, address, number of cases and if the cases involved staff, students or both. Students or staff exposed to COVID-19 outside the school building and are not thought to have spread the virus in the school due to quarantine or self-isolation are not included in the data.

Many factors, including the lack of ability to conduct effective contact tracing in certain settings, may result in underreporting of outbreaks, MDHHS said. This information does not provide a complete picture of school outbreaks in Michigan and the absence of identified outbreaks in a school does not mean it is not experiencing an outbreak.