CORONAVIRUS: 69 new cases reported by Seattle Public Schools – here’s our local breakdown

Seattle Public Schools‘ weekly COVID-19 dashboard update shows a case-increase rate this week that’s only slightly higher than the previous week – 69 new cases; last week’s increase was 63. Here are the school-by-school breakouts for our area, with the changes from a week earlier – again, the numbers are cumulative for the entire school year so far:

Chief Sealth International High School – 12, up 4
Denny International Middle School – 12, up 2
Roxhill Elementary – 8, up 2
Highland Park Elementary – 8, unchanged
Lafayette Elementary – 6, unchanged
Madison Middle School – 4, up 2
Gatewood Elementary – 4, unchanged
West Seattle High School – 3, up 1
Pathfinder K-8 – 3, unchanged
Arbor Heights Elementary – 2, newly reported this week
West Seattle Elementary – 2, unchanged
Fairmount Park Elementary – 2, unchanged
Genesee Hill Elementary – 1, unchanged
Louisa Boren STEM K-8 – 1, unchanged
Sanislo Elementary – 1, unchanged

Still no cases reported at Alki or Concord International elementaries, according to the dashboard.

26 Replies to "CORONAVIRUS: 69 new cases reported by Seattle Public Schools - here's our local breakdown"

  • Jim October 4, 2021 (1:05 pm)

    It would be nice if the Seattle School District would tell the public what these numbers actually mean; like how many classes in each school have to close for a few weeks to do on line learning with their teacher; the Kent School District has a map of each school and the public can see how many classes have to do online learning due to the number of Covid cases in a classroom. I think schools need to be more transparent to the taxpayers, I understand that it takes a lot to figure this out but they should inform taxpayers who help support schools via taxes on homes and during voting time when schools district want people to vote yes to fund certain things for education.

    • SLJ October 4, 2021 (3:41 pm)

      I haven’t heard of classes needing to go online. Close contacts are notified by the district to test and quarantine. Other students in the class are notified, but if they weren’t a close contact, they don’t need to do anything. I think the numbers actually look great. WSHS is a huge school but only has 3 reported cases. Elementaries will likely have more cases, as those kids are too young to be vaccinated yet. But even 8 in an elementary isn’t too bad. Masks, social distancing, and vaccinations are working.

    • Neighbor October 4, 2021 (7:48 pm)

      Agree the school data should be explained, but I can’t see any evidence our schools are actively concealing anything from taxpayers, Jim. I think schools should be given better guidance on how to change educational approaches based on COVID data. I also think schools are working incredibly hard to try to get it done right, and welcome guidance on how things need to change when COVID cases rise. Let’s help our children’s teachers by giving them better and clearer guidance on COVID-related teaching changes instead of obliquely critiquing underpaid educational professionals’ best efforts just because our own financial insecurity neuroses rise front and center. 

      • Sasquatch October 5, 2021 (7:19 am)

        The district contact tracing team is very small for 50,000 students. Not sure the district has the capacity to provide more information than they already are. There is no online option at all currently. SPS might ask teachers to turn on cameras so students who quarantine at home can watch the lesson. Or parents can pull out of school and sign up for Washington‘s online learning program which has been around for over a decade.

    • WSMom October 5, 2021 (7:10 am)

      I know of one class that did go online. Agree these numbers could have some additional context but SPS is not know for transparency. 

  • q October 4, 2021 (1:56 pm)

    It would interesting to see stats on transmission within the school. Cases like Genesee, Louisa Boren, and Sanislo, where they show 1 case, means that a student got Covid from elsewhere, and then did not transmit it to anyone at school…so that solitary uptick that’s unchanged the following week is actually really great because it means that the system was tested and the virus was not transmitted within the classroom.

    • skeeter October 4, 2021 (2:15 pm)

      Q –  “Cases like Genesee, Louisa Boren, and Sanislo, where they show 1 case, means that a student got Covid from elsewhere, and then did not transmit it to anyone at school”  Please keep in mind this data includes only *reported cases.*  There are likely more cases.  Some combination of (a) tested positive but not reported and (b) untested with symptoms and (c) untested and asymptomatic.  That being said, I know our teachers, staff, and students are trying real hard to limit the spread.

    • alki_2008 October 6, 2021 (10:40 pm)

      @Q — Unless every person in the school is being tested on a regular schedule, then the 1 reported case doesn’t mean what you think it means. The 1 could’ve been infected by another student, but that other student was never tested and/or showed symptoms.  Thinking that reported case numbers are a true representation of actual cases is misinformed. Unless every person is tested regularly, then the true number of positive cases cannot be known.

  • PSPS October 4, 2021 (1:59 pm)

    And, since this relies entirely on self-reporting or voluntary testing, we really can’t know the scope of this problem.

  • Alki mom October 4, 2021 (4:27 pm)

    SPS should be able to enhance the dashboard so readers can determine if there is an outbreak at a school and how many students need to be quarantined as a result of the outbreak. It is interesting to see the number of SPS cases from community spread but it does not tell us how effective their multi-layered COVID mitigation measures are at preventing COVID from spreading at each school.

  • Bryce Jensen October 4, 2021 (6:29 pm)

    One covid case is more then enough . 

    • Neighbor October 4, 2021 (7:54 pm)

      Agree 100%. I got vaxxed months ago, mask up everywhere, wash my hands, and….got COVID. And it not only sucks, it’s scary thinking about how you can feel your chest and lungs begin to get invaded by potentially life-ending viruses. You just hope that you will be able to ride it out. So yeah, one case is definitely too many, particularly if you think about our kids with their whole lives ahead of them… 

      • Bronson October 5, 2021 (7:10 am)

        We are never going to have Covid-zero, so while one case is more than enough, the view that we should be striving to something like Covid-zerois not based in reality or science and is leading to government overreach and the fomenting anger in the general population and the risk of far right groups (see Australia and here for that matter). Glad you got the vaccine and it worked as it should. Perhaps future vaccines will work better on the prevention.  

  • Auntie October 4, 2021 (6:47 pm)

    It seems to me that if it is like Boren STEM “1 – unchanged” that they are doing a good job of preventing the spread.

    • Bandana October 4, 2021 (8:38 pm)

      Agreed. I’m happy to see that many of the elementary schools are “unchanged”.

  • Nichole October 4, 2021 (9:00 pm)

    Skeeter My understanding is all positive tests are reported to the health dept via the testing lab so there would be no unreported positives. That was my experience as a long term care administrator. 

  • konarep October 4, 2021 (9:06 pm)

    I also believe the mitigation strategies are generally working in schools, and the numbers generally bear this out – the rates are still fairly low compared to the total student/staff population.

    My biggest worry is still athletics, where student athletes are unmasked.  I am especially worried about the indoor sports, like wrestling and basketball.

  • Michelle October 4, 2021 (9:06 pm)

    They aren’t doing enough testing. If they tested everyone once a week I bet there would be a much larger amount of kids testing positive. I don’t think they even test everyone in a class that has a positive case.

  • Concerned October 5, 2021 (12:16 am)

    Good point about testing, screening testing would catch asymptomatic cases. I wish the schools were doing this. But the turn around time on SPS testing is slower than city testing. SPS will  only test if you have symptoms. But we can do screening testing on our own.  Take a test every time you have an exposure in your class etc even if your not a close contact, or just go test every two weeks or something. It’s easy and pain free now. 

    • High Point October 5, 2021 (11:30 am)

      Am I wrong in my understanding that if a student gets tested they are not suppose to return to campus until after they know the results of the test? If that’s the policy it might actually discourage people from proactively testing, especially if parents don’t have paid sick leave to stay home with their child.

  • A October 5, 2021 (3:48 am)

    I know Summit Atlas is not part of SPS but they’re a part of this community and their numbers should be known and/or reported as well. Our elementary and K-8 schools are doing great job. I feel super proud of Boren STEM where are kid is going. 

  • Belvidear October 5, 2021 (6:54 am)

    Curious. Since last Wednesday, I have received 3 notifications from Madison about 3 new cases. 

  • GHill October 10, 2021 (11:57 pm)

    There have been adjustments to the numbers. The dashboard shows 72 cases from the week ending 10/1 and additional schools have cases like Genesee Hill (now 2). The cumulative number has decreased though to 343.

    • WSB October 11, 2021 (12:30 am)

      Thanks for noting that – I’ve taken screengrabs so I have the updated comparison when they post the weekly update later today – TR

  • Billy October 11, 2021 (1:17 pm)

    Southwest schools have 97 known cases currently. 

    • WSB October 11, 2021 (1:53 pm)

      I’m running behind on the weekly comparison but it’ll be up this afternoon. Thanks!

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