53 New COVID-19 Outbreaks In Schools Brings Total To 271
On Monday, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reported 53 new COVID-19 outbreaks in Michigan schools, bringing the rolling total to 271 ongoing outbreaks.
The total number of outbreaks is up only 22 from last weeks total of 249, which means that the outbreaks are beginning to show signs of slowing. Just one month ago Michigan had 120 schools with outbreaks and that number rapidly grew until this week when it has begun to plateau.
The new outbreaks this week include 23 pre-school or elementary schools, 9 junior highs or middle schools, 18 high schools, 2 administrative buildings, and 1 college.
The most recent outbreaks, which were reported on November 23rd, include schools from counties all across the state and the longest ongoing outbreaks were first reported on September 7th.
It's likely that the total number of outbreaks will continue to stay relatively stagnant and possibly even decline over the next several weeks. With high schools and colleges mandated to finish the semester remotely and many elementary and middle schools following suit, most of the ongoing outbreaks should end soon.
As far as whether students or faculty are accounting for the bulk of the positive cases, it is unclear but appears to be a mixed bag. The way the state reports the positive cases is only whether they are from students, staff, or both. So, if there are 10 cases at a school and it affects both students and staff (listed as both), it does not determine how many cases are from students vs staff.