The NOLA Public Schools district is reporting 18 total active cases of COVID-19 — 9 of which are new — across 14 schools, while people in quarantine rose from 121 to 163.
Of the 18 active cases, seven are in staff members and 11 are in students. The district’s dashboard only shows active cases. Once a case is old enough to no longer be considered “active” — as determined by the Louisiana Department of Health — it is no longer listed.
The district’s weekly update was delayed one day, as officials worked to respond to the effects of Hurricane Zeta, chiefly widespread power outages across the city. In-person and remote classes were cancelled Thursday and Friday.
At a press conference Friday, Ramsey Green, the Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Infrastructure, said that 75 percent of Orleans Parish public schools did not have power, and that roughly 30 percent had minor infrastructure damage such as broken windows.
City and Entergy New Orleans officials are still working to assess damage in the city and the district will announce on Sunday whether in-person classes can resume Monday.
This is the fourth week that the district has reported cases on its website. The district does not release a cumulative count, but based on what the district has released, the cumulative count over that time appears to be 36 cases: 12 cases in week one, four new cases in week two, 11 new cases in week three and 9 in week four.
The district’s dashboard breaks out cases by school site.
The Louisiana Department of Health has recorded 85 cases of COVID-19 in staff and students in Orleans Parish since Sept. 3 when it began collecting such data. Schools self-report cases to LDH.
