So far, Worcester has had the most wide-reaching outbreak, but the virus only spread to faculty and staff. No Worcester students have reported contracting COVID-19 at school.
About 50 Massachusetts school districts have had to contend with infections and the aftermath, which can include sterilization and quarantine.
The numbers come from the National Education Association, which is tracking reports of school-related COVID-19 incidents across the country. While NEA tracks both confirmed and unconfirmed COVID-19 cases, for the purposes of this article, only the confirmed cases are being considered.
The 96 COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts private and public elementary and secondary schools include 61 students and 35 faculty or staff.
Worcester, the school district that has seen the most COVID-19 infections, has had 9 confirmed cases altogether. The city reported that 3 employees tested positive for COVID-19 in March and 6 tested positive in September.
The next largest outbreaks in Massachusetts have been in Marlborough and Attleboro. In Marlborough 7 students caught COVID-19; in Attleboro 5 students, as well as 1 faculty or staff member became infected with the virus.
Each discovery of COVID-19 infections led to some measure of quarantine except in Natick, Andover, and Belmont where no quarantines were issued, according to the NEA.
In Western Massachusetts' largest city, Springfield has recorded 1 student catching COVID-19.
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