For those interested in the number of COVID cases in the East Penn Schools, I update my EPSD COVID Tracker every day at bit.ly/epsdcovid. Please check it regularly for up-to-date information about verified COVID cases in the school district. The Tracker includes an easy-to-read graph of the rolling 14-day total number of cases, the number in each individual school, and tables showing all of the data itself.
A couple of observations:
- When I first started the EPSD COVID Tracker on the Monday before Thanksgiving, there had been a total of 35 cases district-wide over the previous 14 weeks of the school year. Since that time, the number of cases has more than doubled– to 72 total– in just 2.5 weeks.
- The rolling 14-day total number of cases has set a new record in the district in each of the last four days in a row.
- The pattern of rapidly increasing cases in the district days matches the predictions public health experts have been making for several months now about the consequences of increased contact between people brought on by colder weather, the Thanksgiving holiday, growing fatigue with social distancing measures, and the continued presence of those in the community who endanger others by refusing to take basic safety precautions.
Some important additional information:
- The COVID data available to the school district relies on students and staff self-reporting positive COVID test results to the the district.
- The data in the tracker reflect cases of students and staff in both hybrid and remote instructional models.
- As I was writing this post, the district launched an official COVID dashboard webpage. Check it out! It has some very useful information too, and breaks down how many of the cases have been among those physically present in the schools versus those in remote instruction. Unlike my own tracker, however, it does not show the rolling 14-day total number of cases, either overall or by school.
