How Hinsdale 86 Stacks Up Virus-Wise To Elmhurst 205

HINSDALE, IL — In comparisons with Elmhurst School District 205, Hinsdale High School District 86 is faring relatively well coronavirus-wise, but that could be explained.

As of last Friday, 40 students and seven staff members had tested positive for the coronavirus in Elmhurst School District 205 since the beginning of the school year. That's a total of 47.

By comparison, the number of students and staff at Hinsdale High School District 86 who have tested positive was 15 as of Friday.

The Hinsdale district is half the size of Elmhurst's. Based on the current rate, the Hinsdale district would have 30 cases if it were the same size as Elmhurst

Since the beginning of the school year, the Elmhurst district has had 1,025 students and 159 staff either isolated or quarantined at some point, according to its website. That works out to about one in eight students.

At Hinsdale, a total of 316 students and staff have been quarantined or isolated since the beginning of the school year. The district doesn't separate out students from teachers.

Of the 40 Elmhurst students with the coronavirus so far this school year, 18 of them tested positive last week. Just one of the seven teachers with the virus was found positive last week.

According to the DuPage County Health Department, Elmhurst has seen a recent surge in coronavirus cases. As of Sunday, the Elmhurst caseload numbered 963. That's a 20 percent increase from two weeks before and nearly double the level a little more than two months earlier. Hinsdale saw bigger increases earlier in the pandemic.

Elmhurst has been more aggressive about returning to in-person learning than Hinsdale, so that could be a factor in the difference between the districts.

But the situation in the Elmhurst district is apparently not inevitable. Students returned to in-person learning at Elmhurst's IC Catholic Prep on Aug. 19, with half of students in the building each day.

Of IC's 360 students and 30 faculty, not one has tested positive for the coronavirus as of Tuesday, the school's spokesman, David Terry, said in an email. "Our fingers remain crossed!" he said.

In a statement Friday, Elmhurst Superintendent Dave Moyer said potential exposures to the virus in the schools are linked to community activity, including the outbreak at Orangetheory Fitness.

"Many students and staff have had to self-isolate or quarantine and, as a result, some students and staff who had originally returned to the classroom for the school year are now learning or working remotely," Moyer said. "(T)he rising positive case rates in Elmhurst and in DuPage County are a stark reminder that we must be ever vigilant in our fight to prevent the spread of this unpredictable virus."