New Year, New Variant! 41,063 new cases of COVID-19 among students and 7351 new cases among educators.
For this round, updated guidance from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and the Department of Public Health (DPH) means students and educators will only have to quarantine/isolate for five days instead of ten if they have no symptoms. So only 205,315 school days lost by students with no remote option to keep with instruction.
The mask mandate has been extended until February 28, 2022. No sign of options for remote learning to help students make up nearly a million lost school days this year.
| Number of MA Students | 911,465 |
| Positive Student Cases to Date | 131,562 (14.2%) |
Student Count: Number of reported positive cases for students who are enrolled in the school.
Staff Count: Number of reported positive cases for district staff members employed by the school district.
If a school has concerns over a spike in cases within a classroom, grade, or a school, districts and schools must notify their local board of health and must call the DESE Rapid Response Help Center at 781-338-3500.
DESE FAQ Week of November 15, 2021
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education weekly reports are available here.
You can explore the DESE guidance for school-based testing, vaccines and safety policies for public and private schools here.
Curious about more statewide COVID-19 data? The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has a comprehensive interactive dashboard with community level data on testing, hospitalizations and COVID-19 Variants. You can visit their dashboard here.