Thirty-five cases of COVID-19 over a period of two weeks were reported in Regional School Unit 5 on Friday, according to an email from Superintendent Becky Foley.
In addition to 13 cases at Freeport High School, two were reported at Mast Landing School, eight at Durham Community School, four at Pownal Elementary School and two at Freeport Middle School since the superintendent’s last update, which was on Nov. 23.
Regional School Unit 5, which serves Freeport, Pownal and Durham, has recorded 114 total positive cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the 2021-22 school year so far, Foley said Friday, more than half of which have been identified over the last month.
For comparison, during the 2020-21 school year around 67 cases were identified in RSU 5. There are 1,990 students enrolled in RSU 5 across six schools. Attempts to contact Foley for further comment on Monday were unsuccessful.
According to Maine CDC Spokesperson Robert Long, the Delta variant of COVID-19 is largely to blame for the uptick in cases this year.
“The dominant strain in Maine since late summer, it is far more transmissible than COVID-19 strains that were infecting Maine people at this time last year,” wrote Long in an email. “The increase in cases among students aligns with increases in cases among other age groups, with most of the cases being among individuals who were not fully vaccinated.”
Staff vaccination rate at RSU 5 stands at 95.7%. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 80-84% of students in the district are vaccinated. Masks continue to be required at all indoor spaces in the district.
“The increase in vaccination and the use of the pooled testing has allowed us to avoid a lot of the quarantine that came about last year,” said Regional School Unit 5 Board of Directors Chairperson Michelle Ritcheson. “In terms of having kids in school, and learning and accessing their education, I think this year is better than last year. In terms of straight cases, it’s not.”
As of Friday, 15 positive cases of COVID-19 had been identified in RSU 5 through pooled testing. In November, Mast Landing School went remote for one week after eight new cases were reported.
In the Brunswick School Department, 68 cases of COVID-19 have been reported so far this year — 12 of which were active as of Monday. During the 2020-21 school year, 71 cases were reported. There are 2,391 students enrolled in Brunswick schools.
According to the Maine CDC’s website, 63 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Regional School Unit 1 schools over the last 30 days.
RSU 1 covers Bath, Arrowsic, Phippsburg and Woolwich and according to assistant superintendent Katie Joseph has about 1,900 students enrolled. Joseph said the school department does not keep a running log of COVID-19 cases through the school year, but this year has been higher than the last.
In Maine, an all-time high of 361 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Monday morning, according to The Portland Press Herald. Statewide, there have been 123,118 cases of COVID-19 reported with 1,336 deaths.
The Maine CDC estimates that 99% of eligible Durham, Pownal and Freeport residents are vaccinated.
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