Black River, Cityside Middle named on state's COVID-19 outbreak list

Sentinel Staff
·3 min read

As COVID-19 case numbers remain elevated in local schools this month, two local schools were identified as the site of COVID-19 clusters or outbreaks this week: Black River Middle School and Cityside Middle School.

The schools were listed as having new virus outbreaks in Monday's updated School-Related Cluster and Outbreak Report.

According to the report, Black River Middle School's cluster/outbreak involved four cases, among both students and staff, and Cityside Middle School's outbreak involved six cases among students.

Wednesday, Aug. 25, marked the first day of school at Black River Public School.
Wednesday, Aug. 25, marked the first day of school at Black River Public School.

The state is describing COVID-19 spread at Holland High School as an ongoing outbreak since the school was placed on the outbreak list Jan. 18. The outbreak is now associated with 11 total cases, according to Monday's updated report.

The state identifies clusters and outbreaks in schools as three or more cases that appear to be linked, in the case of a cluster, or have been confirmed to be linked, in the case of an outbreak. Clusters and outbreaks are not differentiated in the state's report.

Holland Public Schools updated its COVID-19 case dashboard Jan. 28, reporting 92 new COVID-19 cases among students and 11 among staff in the last week. Student cases at HPS are slightly down from last week's high of 110 new cases.

This week there were 37 new cases at Holland High, 16 at Holland Middle, 9 at Holland Heights Elementary, 12 at Holland Language Academy, 3 at Jefferson Elementary and 15 at West Elementary.

Zeeland Public Schools reported Jan. 28 the district had 150 active cases of COVID-19 and had reached a cumulative total of 870 infections for the school year.

There were 33 active cases at Creekside Middle School, 25 at Zeeland West High School, 13 at Roosevelt Elementary, 13 at Adams Elementary, 11 at New Groningen Elementary and 10 cases each at Zeeland East High School and Lincoln Elementary.

As of Jan. 31, Holland Christian had a total of 30 active COVID-19 cases among students and nine among staff members, down from last week.

Of those cases, 12 student cases were at the high school. Holland Christian Schools have tallied 217 total student COVID-19 cases and 67 staff cases this academic year.

Students at Holland Christian's Rose Park Elementary arrive for the first day of school Tuesday, Aug. 24.
Students at Holland Christian's Rose Park Elementary arrive for the first day of school Tuesday, Aug. 24.

Saugatuck Public Schools reported seven new cases of COVID-19 were identified in the district Jan. 28, including four at Douglas Elementary School, one at Saugatuck Middle School and two at Saugatuck High School. Those new cases bring the total number of active cases in the district to 33 and the cumulative total up to 97 for the school year.

Fennville Public Schools reported four new cases in the school district among students last week in a COVID-19 update dated Jan. 28.

Hope College reported 56 students and 13 staff members are currently in COVID-19 isolation as of Jan. 31. There have been 574 positive student cases on campus this semester, according to the college's COVID-19 dashboard.

Grand Valley State University reported 402 active cases of COVID-19 among students and staff Monday. The seven-day average for new cases per day was 48.86, down from last week's average new daily cases of 57.43.

Active cases Monday included 51 faculty and staff cases, 87 on-campus students, 157 students living off-campus in Ottawa County, 84 students living off campus in Kent County and 23 students living off-campus elsewhere.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Black River, Cityside Middle named on state's COVID-19 outbreak list