Portsmoth High School Ends The Week With Distance Learning

PORTSMOUTH, RI — Portsmouth students learned from home Thursday and will again Friday due to staffing shortages. All other Portsmouth students had in-person classes, as usual.

Superintendent Thomas Kenworthy said the shortages were caused by the ongoing COVID-19 surge.

Portsmouth is far from the first district to grapple with staffing shortages caused by COVID-19. Coventry's high and middle schools have had partial or full distance learning days over the past weeks. One day, 43 staff members were absent, along with 400 students.

According to the latest date from the Rhode Island Department of Health, Portsmouth has some of the lowest COVID-19 case rates in the state, ranked at number 35 out of 39 cities and towns in the state with 16,420 cases per 100,000 people. That's less than half as much as Central Falls, which has the highest rate at 38,221 cases per 100,000 people.