Several new coronavirus cases were reported at the Hempfield Area School District this week, Superintendent Tammy Wolicki confirmed.
Two students at the high school tested positive, along with a student at Fort Allen Elementary School and a staffer at West Hempfield Elementary, according to the district’s covid-19 tracker, which was updated Monday evening.
The new cases bring the district total to 11 positive cases for the period between Nov. 2-16.
Total cases in the district include one student at Fort Allen, one staffer at Maxwell Elementary, one student and one staffer at West Hempfield Elementary, five students at the Hempfield Area High School, one staffer at Harrold Middle and one student at West Hempfield Middle.
Several presumptive cases were also reported. One is a student at Stanwood Elementary, three are students at the high school, one is a student at Harrold and two are students at West Hempfield Middle.
There are no cases reported at West Point Elementary, Wendover Middle or among administrators, bus drivers, food service or maintenance workers.
On Tuesday, Westmoreland County set new highs for the seven-day covid-19 cases total, with 1,128 cases reported between Nov. 11-17. That’s an average of 161 new daily cases.
The increased caseload once again put districts in the “substantial” category, a designation that is based on the number of new cases in a given population. That designation has fluctuated over the past few weeks, but several districts in the county took precautions by returning students to remote learning.
Last month, however, members of the school board voted to continue with the hybrid model of learning, which is a mix of in-person and online classes.
