Students at 42 Charter School arrive on the first day of in-person classes since COVID-19 shuttered schools in March of 2020. (Michael Isaac Stein/The Lens)

As the 2020-21 school year wraps up, NOLA Public Schools is tracking 20 “active” COVID-19 cases among staff and students as of this week — 12 of which were reported in the last week. The cases have led to 408 quarantines, according to the district’s weekly case-tracking data posted Monday afternoon

The numbers are slightly lower than last week’s update from the district, when officials reported 22 cases and quarantine numbers had nearly doubled over the week prior to 501. The majority of cases reported last week were also newly reported.

Of the 20 current cases, 14 are among students and six are among staff and they’re spread across 14 campuses. 

Two schools are responsible for more than half the quarantines in the system. At Mary D. Coghill Elementary School, three student cases led to 128 people in quarantine. One staff case at Akili Academy led to 130 people in quarantine. 

The update comes as high school graduations are held across the city and school leaders prepare to start summer school in the coming weeks. At a meeting last week, NOLA Public Schools Superintendent Henderson Lewis Jr. said he expects 13,000 students to attend summer school this summer. That’s nearly one-third of the district’s enrollment.

Last week, officials announced that a third coronavirus variant — first detected in India and called the B.1.617.2 variant — had been detected in the Shreveport area.

Vaccination rates inched up about one percentage point in the city over the last week. Just over 46 percent of the city’s residents have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and close to 42 percent are fully vaccinated. 

Lewis has also announced that all students will be expected to attend school in person next fall, save for limited medical exceptions.

Marta Jewson

Marta Jewson covers education in New Orleans for The Lens. She began her reporting career covering charter schools for The Lens and helped found the hyperlocal news site Mid-City Messenger. Jewson returned...