We are so close to reaching 30% of Massachusetts students who tested positive for COVID-19 in the 2021-22 school year. Fewer students and staff reported a positive COVID-19 test last week but “less” is still 12,729 MORE cases.
In other news, we actually have updated information from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Executive Office of Health and Human Services and the Department of Public Health. The May 24 Update on K-12 COVID-19 Testing Program for Spring, Summer and Fall 2022 memo explains that it will be status quo for the last few weeks of school, test kits will be available for summer programs but the message for next year is that schools and districts are on their own.
To summarize the plans for the 2022-23 school year, Massachusetts will no longer be providing free rapid test kits to schools and there will be no state data collection of COVID-19 cases in schools. You can take a look at the webinar recording here and the slide deck here.
| Number of MA Students | 911,465 |
| Positive Student Cases to Date | 266,204 (29 %) |
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.
Don’t forget to check out our running list of the COVID-19 policies. You have not likely missed much. DESE has not provided any COVID-19 updates since March 9, 2022.
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.