Mount Vernon School District has had mostly low to moderate numbers of COVID cases — fewer than 20 a week — for most of the past month.
Only the week of Sept. 27 had more than 20 cases. It had 23. This is the only week of the four that is deemed a week with high numbers of COVID cases.
The week of Sept. 13 had four COVID cases total in the three schools, the week of Sept. 20 had 16 cases (up 12 from the previous week), the week of Sept. 27 had 23 cases (up seven from the previous week), and the week of Oct. 4 had 11 cases (down 12 from the previous week).
These numbers for the four weeks show that the number of COVID cases in the schools went up for three weeks and then down for one week.
“Lots of districts are seeing this [type of pattern] but at different times — for example, one week with spiked cases plus easier weeks,” said superintendent Greg Batenhorst at the Oct. 11 school board meeting. “High numbers are generally in the 20s.”
The school district is looking for trends in the number of COVID cases, though, Batenhorst said, not just one week with a spike.
Absentee rateThe percentage of absences from the district’s three schools in the last three of the four weeks also showed a decline from the beginning to the end of each week, as well as a decline from the beginning to the end of that three-week period.
The week of Sept. 20 went down from an absentee rate of 4.73 percent on Monday to 3.48 percent on Thursday and 3.69 percent on Friday.
The week of Sept. 27 went down from an absentee rate of 5.36 percent on Monday to 3.69 percent on Friday, the same percent as the previous Friday.
The week of Oct. 4 went down even lower, from an absentee rate of 2.64 percent on both Monday and Tuesday, to a rate of 1.53 percent on Wednesday, 1.88 percent on Thursday and 1.95 percent on Friday.
So during that three-week period, the absentee rate in all three schools declined from 4.73 percent on the first Monday to 1.95 percent on the third Friday.
This trend is positive for COVID declining in the schools during that time, said Batenhorst, though he wondered if students might have not revealed during homecoming week (the last week measured then) that they felt bad. The absentee rate was lower for all illnesses that week.
“Our numbers are solid. Last week (the week of Oct. 4) was great,” he said. “Ninety-five percent plus attendance is where you want to be.”
The school district plans to continue to monitor its COVID numbers and trends throughout the school year so it continually knows what the COVID situation in the district is and so it has data to inform its decisions.
City of Mount Vernon
and Linn CountyThe school district is also continuing to monitor the numbers of COVID cases in the City of Mount Vernon and in Linn County to see what those trends are.
The City of Mount Vernon saw its numbers of COVID cases increase each week from Sept. 13 to Oct. 4. They went from 58 to 65 (up seven) to 76 (up 11) to 84 (up eight).
Linn County saw its number of COVID cases in the week of Sept. 20 decrease from a peak number of cases in mid-September, in the week of Sept. 27 plateau in the number of cases after the peak, and in the week of Oct. 4 decrease slightly in the number of cases.
Hospitalization numbers showed the same trend as Linn County’s COVID numbers did: They decreased during the week of Sept. 20, had similar numbers to the week of Sept. 20 during the week of Sept. 27, and decreased during the week of Oct. 4.