Since November, nurses’ offices have been filled, families are being called, and students have been missing school for long periods of time due to an increase in COVID-19 cases in Gloucester Public Schools. 

As most people are aware, COVID-19 is a deadly virus that has been spreading for almost two years. Massachusetts numbers have been fluctuating since march 2020. COVID-19 has been increasing steadily since November. The Gloucester School COVID-19 numbers have reflected that.  

Every Day Matters reports there have been a total of 251 COVID-19 cases in the school system this year. According to The Gillnetter’s COVID tracker on December 17th last year, only 36 students had tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the school year. This year’s positive case numbers are nearly 7 times higher than they were last year at this time.

Now there are 75 active cases in Gloucester Public Schools. The highest number of these cases are from GHS, with 9 active cases as of December 20.  GHS students represent 64 of the 251 total cases for the district.  There have been outbreaks at both Beeman and West Parish Elementary. As of December 20th, Beeman Elementary has 24 active positive cases which brings the total to 55 cases this year. West Parish has 8 active cases at the moment, and 43 total for the school year. 

Nurse Leora Ulrich says that the nurses “are very busy” due to the increased COVID-19 numbers.

With the holiday gatherings happening this week, officials predict a spike in COVID-19 cases in the near future. School officials urge students and families to follow mitigation practices over the holiday break, such as wearing masks, avoiding parties, staying home when sick, and getting vaccinated.