3 New Coronavirus Outbreaks Reported In Oakland County Schools

OAKLAND COUNTY, MI — Three schools in Oakland County have been added to a list of schools with ongoing outbreaks of the coronavirus, Michigan health officials reported Monday.

One student and one staff member at Carpenter Elementary School in Lake Orion, two staff at University High School in Ferndale and eight students at Southfield's Lawrence Tech University recently tested positive for the coronavirus, according to data provided by the state.

In all, Michigan reported new outbreaks of the coronavirus at 22 schools Monday.

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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.

Here are the new coronavirus outbreaks reported by the state Monday: