Data Shows 6 Ongoing COVID-19 Outbreaks At Maricopa County Schools
The Maricopa County Department of Public Health is now reporting the number of COVID-19 outbreaks and cases at schools on its data dashboard.
Eight school outbreaks have occurred since August, six of which are ongoing, according to the county's data.
There have been 35 COVID-19 cases associated with outbreaks at Maricopa County schools since August, and 24 of those cases involved students, 11 involved staff.
The county can’t disclose where these outbreaks and cases are happening for privacy reasons, but medical director Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine thinks it's important that the public know there are outbreaks and how many have been contained.
“We can show people that even if we do have students in session at school, that we still have a process to keep everyone safe if there is an exposure at school," she said.
Districts and charter schools are able share their own COVID case numbers with the public, she said. The Chandler, Madison Elementary and Gilbert school districts have all released their own COVID data dashboards on their websites.
The county's health department is working with the schools to contain the spread, Sunenshine said. In addition, the department will be launching a call center next week to answer COVID-related questions from parents and guardians.
“We just want to make sure that public health is available so that they can ask their questions and get accurate about the spread of COVID and how best to prevent it and to help interpret what their schools are asking them to do," she said.
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Sunenshine recommends that parents keep students who have been exposed to the virus out of school for a full 14 days, even if they have tested negative.
