Petition Calls For Statewide Coronavirus School Protocol

CONNECTICUT — Reported coronavirus cases among pre-K-12 students saw a sharp 49 percent increase week-over-week in Connecticut and reached the highest level since the school year began. The news comes after two consecutive weeks of declines.

There were 1,296 cases reported among students between Dec. 3 and 9, which was 426 more cases than the previous reporting week. Staff had a smaller increase of 29 cases over the previous week with 419 reported between Dec. 3 and 9.

More than 14,000 people signed a petition to Gov. Ned Lamont to enforce statewide school coronavirus protocols; teachers also rallied at the state capitol for changes. Some signers also included notes about how they don't feel safe in schools and how school districts are using different protocols across the state.

"With surging infection rates and vaccines for the general public not available until after the new year, the state must shift to full-time remote learning until at least mid-January to ensure that in-person learning is a safe strategy for our students and teachers—not an experiment, not a gamble," said Connecticut Education Association President Jeff Leake.

Lamont said that the majority of schools in Connecticut are following state guidance for coronavirus protocols and the state Department of Education has reached out to some outliers who weren't following all the guidance.

"If there are a few schools that aren't taking the protocols as seriously as they should, they are now," Lamont said during a Thursday news conference.

Teachers are classified as critical workforce members under Connecticut's vaccine rollout plan — they along with first responders and some others are tentatively scheduled to receive the vaccine sometime between mid-January to late May.

All of Connecticut’s counties are in state’s highest risk category for learning, which means schools should consider less in-person instruction. Counties enter the highest category when their average daily cases per 100,000 population exceeds 25.

Fairfield, Hartford, Litchfield and New Haven counties are all at 50 or more daily cases per 100,000 residents. The state averaged 53 cases between Nov. 22 and Dec. 5 and the positive test rate was 8 percent.

Around 39 percent of cases were reported among students in a district that is primarily doing remote learning. Around 38 percent were among students in primarily hybrid districts and 22 percent were among students in a primarily full in-person district.