Norwood Public Schools Have No COVID-19 Cases So Far

NORWOOD - The Norwood Public Schools had no reported cases of COVID-19 from either students or staff in a report released Thursday, countering a statewide trend.

Norwood Public Schools Superintendent David Thomson cautioned that, for his district, data had only been collected for three days.

"I don't expect the numbers to stay at zero in the next report," he said.

While other districts have reported COVID-19 cases and shortages in bus drivers and staff, Norwood is doing well.

"We are still looking for some paraprofessionals," he said. "But we are able to fulfil all of our educational duties. We are in pretty good shape as far as staff, although we could use some help in the cafeteria."

Thomson added: "There is always a need for bus drivers."

The main story about statewide numbers appears here.

Local education agencies reported 1,420 student and staff coronavirus cases in the state's first count of the new school year Thursday, a much higher number than the last report of the 2020-2021 school year.

There were 1,230 student positives reported from Monday to Wednesday, versus 53 in the June 16 report. There were also 18 positives from pooled testing reported in the June report.
There were 190 staff cases in the new report, compared to just five in the last report of the previous school year.

Cases were reported by 248 public school districts, six approved special education schools and three educational collaboratives. Eleven districts reported 20 or more cases, with Springfield having the largest total: 70 students and eight staff members.

Most special education schools and education collaboratives, and 152 school districts, reported zero cases.

Part of the reason for the increase in statewide cases could be attributed to more students being in the classroom, as well as more widespread testing than last year, according to a report in The Boston Globe.

However, the number of total cases has risen since June, primarily due to the Delta variant.

District-level coronavirus data for each school district can be located in this spreadsheet.

Locally, Westwood also had no cases of either students or staff with COVID-19. Canton reported seven students who had the coronavirus, but no staff members. Dedham had three reported student cases and no staff cases, while Walpole had four students and no staff members reported to have COVID-19.

Christopher Huffaker, Patch Staff, contributed to this article.