18 new coronavirus outbreaks reported at N.J. schools — in one of the worst weeks of the new school year – NJ.com

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New Jersey officials reported 18 new in-school outbreaks and 103 new positive cases among students, teachers and school staff in one of the worst weeks since the state started tracking how many people were being infected with COVID-19 at school.

The new school outbreaks — defined as cases in which people caught or transmitted the virus in the classroom or during academic activities — were reported in nine counties, according to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard. Two other counties reported additional cases related to previous school outbreaks.

The names of the schools were not released to protect the privacy of the children and school staff members who tested positive, state officials said.

Gov. Phil Murphy said social distancing rules and safety measures designed to keep students and teachers safe in schools continue to work for the most part. But schools are “certainly not batting a thousand,” the governor said.

“As we note every week, these are the cases which are directly liked to in-school activities. We know that there are students, faculty and staff who contract coronavirus from out-of-school activities — whether it is a youth sport outing or some kind of a party or gathering — and our work has been to prevent those cases from getting through the schoolhouse door,” Murphy said Wednesday at his press briefing in Trenton.

Bergen County reported the most new school outbreaks this week with six outbreaks involving a total of 55 positive cases, the state numbers show.

The other new school outbreaks included: two in Burlington (with a total of 12 cases); two in Camden (with six cases); two in Salem (with four cases); two in Passaic (with four cases); one in Atlantic (with two cases); one in Cape May (with four cases); one in Cumberland (with two cases); and one in Gloucester (with seven cases).

There were also six additional cases in Mercer and one additional case in Ocean related to previously reported school outbreaks, the statistics show.

Murphy, who has said he does not want to order a statewide school shutdown, continues to allow local school districts to decide for themselves whether to hold in-person classes or switch to virtual learning.

The state does not track the total number of COVID-19 cases reported in schools. The outbreak numbers only include cases in which contact tracers concluded people likely gave the virus to each other on school grounds. The numbers do not include those who caught the virus during school sports practices, games or extracurricular activities inside or outside school.

Since the start of the school year, there have been a total of 88 outbreaks linked to in-school transmission involving at least 388 people, state officials said.

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The 88 cases were in:

Atlantic County: 2 school outbreak (total of 4 cases)
Bergen County: 15 school outbreaks (total of 79 cases)
Burlington County: 6 school outbreaks (total of 22 cases)
Camden County: 12 school outbreaks (total of 63 cases)
Cape May County: 8 school outbreaks (total of 23 cases)
Cumberland County: 3 school outbreak (total of 7 cases)
Gloucester County: 5 school outbreaks (total of 25 cases)
Hudson County: 2 school outbreaks (total of 10 cases)
Hunterdon County: 1 school outbreak (3 cases)
Mercer County: 2 school outbreaks (total of 12 cases)
Middlesex County: 1 school outbreak (3 cases)
Monmouth County: 4 school outbreaks (total of 12 cases)
Ocean County: 5 school outbreaks (total of 28 cases)
Passaic County: 4 school outbreaks (total of 23 cases)
Salem County: 7 school outbreaks (total of 26 cases)
Somerset County: 3 school outbreaks (total of 9 cases)
Sussex County: 3 school outbreaks (total of 7 cases)
Union County: 1 school outbreak (23 cases)
Warren County: 4 school outbreaks (total of 9 cases)

Only Essex and Morris counties have had no confirmed school outbreaks, the state said.

The leaders of the New Jersey Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, are among those that have said the state’s school outbreak numbers are misleading because they leave out large numbers of schools that have had COVID-19 cases.

The state’s totals do not include cases tied to school sports teams or cases in which contact tracers failed to conclude whether students and teachers caught the virus within their schools.

Essex and Morris counties, for example, have had numerous schools closed for COVID-19 cases. But contact tracers have not concluded any of those cases involved in-school transmission of the virus.

It is unclear if this week’s spike in school outbreaks was the result of New Jersey’s increasing COVID-19 rate, more effective contact tracing, lax social distancing enforcement in classrooms or a combination of those and other factors.

The increase comes as more school districts continue to close their classrooms and move to all-remote learning. In the last week, 12 more districts switched to all-virtual learning, state officials said.

But most of the state’s school districts remain open for classes, Murphy said.

“Largely because of the protocols in place, however, the majority of our schools continue to remain open to some form of in-person instruction,” the governor said.

At last count, 423 school districts were offering a hybrid of in-person and remote instruction, state education officials said. Another 258 were all-remote and 87 were fully open for in-person classes. The remaining 43 districts were offering a combination of formats in different schools or grade levels.

The totals include only public school districts, charter schools and private schools for students with disabilities. Catholic schools, private prep schools and religious institutions are not being tracked.

Murphy noted he has begun calling education officials and teachers regularly to check in with how things are going beyond the statistics. He said he had a conversation Wednesday about an unnamed district that allegedly had more COVID-19 cases than were being reported and where local officials were accused of ignoring calls for improvements in schools.

“My hope is to learn as much as I can,” Murphy said.

The number of New Jersey students without computers or internet access to link to their online classes continues to drop, according to new state statistics.

About 31,560 students still don’t have a device or an internet connection, despite state and federal funding to close the “digital divide,” state education officials said. That is about 2,000 less than last week.

At the start of the summer, more than 200,000 students needed computers, internet access or both, the state’s survey said.

Shipping delays and laptop shortages are the reason most of the remaining 31,560 students still have not been able to log on for class as the second marking period ends, officials said.

“That’s 31,560 students too many,” Murphy said.

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Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com.