School COVID cases in Greenwich on the rise

District is up to 14 positive cases as it redesigns online tracking portal

GREENWICH — The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Greenwich Public Schools continues to trend upward.

According to the district’s weekly Friday tracker — which was revamped with additional information Oct. 23 — there have been 14 cases of Covid-19 since the start of the school year, 11 of which have been confirmed since Oct. 12.

Hamilton Avenue School families were notified of the district’s latest case last Thursday night, according to Board of Education Communications Liaison Jonathan Supranowitz. A third grader at the school tested positive for the virus due to exposure from a family member and, as a result, the district has decided the school’s entire third grade will quarantine until Nov. 2.

In addition to Hamilton Avenue, Greenwich High School, Central Middle School, Windrose, Julian Curtiss, North Mianus and Old Greenwich each have active cases.

During her monthly update at the Board of Education’s Oct. 22 meeting, Superintendent of Schools Toni Jones noted that none of the 14 cases had been

traced back to exposure that occurred in a Greenwich school. Rather, the confirmed cases were traceable back to non-school activities, like sports and gatherings.

The new tracker sheds more light on the extent to which contact tracing has been done in the district and also lists the number of negative tests returned by students and staff.

According to the tracker, there were 350 negative staff tests in September (October numbers for staff have yet to be updated) and 112 negative students tests in October (September numbers for students were not included on the site).

The district has made 210 phone calls as part of its contact tracing efforts since Oct. 1.

Supranowitz, who joined the district earlier this month, said Friday that the district would likely begin to update the tracker twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays.