NOLA-PS Provides Update on COVID-19 Impact in Schools: March 14-18

(New Orleans – March 21, 2022) – NOLA Public Schools (NOLA-PS) is proud to report our COVID-19 positivity rate continues to remain below 1% for the third week in a row and, starting today, students can go mask-free if they feel comfortable doing so.

Our schools, with the assistance of health partners, administered 16,534 COVID-19 tests last week, yielding a positive test rate of 0.24%, among its students and staff. Last week's testing data, continues to show our schools' COVID safety measures are working to keep our students and staff safe inside our schools. We'd like to thank our community of schools for their continued hard work in keeping the virus at bay.

"It was so wonderful to see the smiles on our students' faces this morning as teachers announced they no longer had to wear masks," Dr. Lewis said. "Many of our students were excited and cheered the lifting of the mask mandate. Others felt more comfortable keeping their masks on and it was great to see how respectful and accepting our students were to each other. It's a day many of us have been waiting for, and I know our school community is looking forward to returning to a sense of normalcy."

Since our COVID-19 tracking data continues to remain low, beginning Monday, April 11, the COVID Tracker will only report the counts of COVID-19 cases identified in the Louisiana Department of Health's (LDH) COVID-19 data. These data include weekly case counts by school. NOLA-PS will continue to provide data around the school community's testing participation and positive test rates. NOLA-PS continues to urge all students and staff to get tested weekly. Families can connect directly with their school regarding testing resources.

Working with its medical advisors, NOLA-PS continues to assess its safety guidelines based on the information provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH). These updates can be viewed here.

For information on vaccination opportunities, please contact your school or visit www.nolapublicschools.com/vaccinations or www.ready.nola.gov for details on testing and vaccination sites.

This week's COVID Tracker provides an update for the week of March 14-18.

The District is currently tracking 11 total cases of COVID-19 (3 staff; 8 students) among 7 schools in our school community, resulting in 31 individuals in quarantine. From March 14-18, NOLA-PS completed 16,534 COVID-19 tests with a positive test rate of 0.24 percent.

As we've been doing since the start of the pandemic, NOLA-PS will continue to monitor the data that measure the impact of COVID-19. We are working with our schools to ensure the data are as accurate as possible, although schools' testing schedule and our reporting schedule may differ week-to-week, accounting for some degree of inconsistency. Quarantine numbers especially may fluctuate due to the increasing number of vaccinated students and differences in total close contacts established through contact tracing.

We acknowledge that gathering this information is above and beyond the daily duties of a school to support their students, and at the District we stand ready to assist them to help fulfill this need for information.

The data are valuable in that they provide a global snapshot of COVID-19's impact that can help schools, teachers, staff, parents, and students make the best choices for their classes, themselves, and their loved ones.

Our goal continues to be to preserve in-person learning, safely and effectively. The American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, the LDH, and the New Orleans Health Department have analyzed the data, and all agree the best place for children to be is in the classroom. The benefits include developing social and emotional skills, access to healthy meals and activities, and access to mental health support that cannot be offered through virtual learning.

With that in mind, NOLA-PS will continue to publicly share each week the number of confirmed cases and precautionary quarantines that our schools self-report. We will also continue to remain in close contact with the LDH and our health advisers as we navigate the 2021-2022 school year.

NOLA-PS' COVID-19 Case Tracker provides cumulative data of self-reported cases in our public schools since this reporting began on Sept. 21, 2020. Last school year's data is archived and available for viewing on our website.

The case numbers above reflect data the District has received from schools. In some cases, there may be a lag time in reporting due to the timeframe in which families notify their schools regarding test results among students.

To learn more about our quarantine and isolation process for the 2021-2022 school year, please refer to NOLA-PS' COVID Guidance for the details.

### 

About NOLA Public Schools: NOLA Public Schools is the public school district for Orleans Parish. It includes the district's administration and elected school board, known as the Orleans Parish School Board. NOLA Public Schools currently oversees 76 public schools and is led by Superintendent Dr. Henderson Lewis, Jr.

For more information, visit www.nolapublicschools.com. For updates, follow NOLA Public Schools on Facebook @NOLAPublicSchools, Instagram @nolaps and Twitter @NOLAPSchools.