DeKalb County public school COVID-19 numbers for the week of Oct. 18

More than 330 local public school students were reported in quarantine because of possible COVID-19 exposure last week, and 18 positive COVID-19 cases were identified in local students.

That’s according to the most recent available data from Genoa-Kingston, DeKalb and Sycamore schools.

COVID-19 case and quarantine data released by local schools is provisional, with most recent statistics varying by district.

There is a 3.7% seven-day positivity rate within DeKalb School District 428 communities, including DeKalb, Malta and Cortland. From Oct. 16 through Oct. 22, there was one employee who tested positive for COVID-19 and seven students who contracted the virus in the DeKalb School District. Two employees were quarantined and 284 students were in quarantine districtwide.

According to enrollment numbers from the most recent available Illinois Report Card data, DeKalb School District’s quarantine rate is about 2.3% of its student body population, which was about 6,600 in the 2019-2020 school year.

As of Oct. 18 in the Sycamore School District, 10 students tested positive for COVID-19, with seven students excluded in quarantine because of close contact and 38 students in quarantine. No employees tested positive for COVID-19, and no employees were excluded because of close contact. Sycamore School District’s quarantine rate is about 1.2% of its student body of 3,713, according to the most recent available enrollment data.

The most recent data for Genoa-Kingston School District is as of Oct. 15, which includes statistics from Oct. 1 through Oct. 14. According to a social media post by Superintendent Brent O’Daniell, one student and three staff members tested positive for COVID-19. One student and one staff member are in quarantine, although they did not test positive. According to enrollment data, that means about 0.6% of Genoa-Kingston School District’s student population of 1,587 is in quarantine.

Each school district updates its COVID-19 reports at least once a week. In DeKalb, data is collected each Friday and will be updated on the district’s website each Monday, according to the website. In Sycamore, the COVID-19 online data page is updated weekly. Genoa-Kingston’s data is released weekly via a Twitter post from O’Daniell and also is shared on the district’s website.