School data update, Jan. 3

Many school districts across the nation will once again open for in-person instruction later this month. But data on how COVID-19 spreads in schools remain inadequate.

At the request of one of my readers, I’ve updated my annotations of state K-12 data reporting, first published on December 6. The annotations are posted on a new resource page, which also includes notes on the four major national sources for COVID-19 school data.  I’ll be updating this page every two weeks.

Here’s how the state data stand, as of January 1:

• 34 states and the District of Columbia are reporting COVID-19 cases in K-12 schools, in some form
• 7 states are reporting incomplete data on school outbreaks or cases in school-aged children
• 20 states are separating out school case counts by students and staff
• 5 states are reporting deaths linked to school outbreaks
• 1 state is reporting COVID-19 tests conducted for school students and staff (New York)
• 2 states are reporting in-person enrollment (New York and Texas)

Related posts

• Callout: No, NYC, those schools aren’t in ColombiaJanuary 8, 2023
  For several days now, the New York City Department of Education’s COVID-19 case map has had a significant error: on this dashboard, a number of schools are erroneously located in Colombia. Like, the South American country.
• Sources and updates, September 11September 11, 2022
  Sources and updates for the week of September 11 include annual boosters, K-12 school safety, children orphaned during the pandemic, and more.
• Sources and updates, June 12June 12, 2022
  Sources and updates for the week of June 12 include Long COVID deaths, ventilation in schools, Moderna’s latest vaccine, and more.
• COVID-19 in schools data: still bad!March 27, 2022
  In addition to the FiveThirtyEight story, I also had an article come out this week in The Grade, Alexander Russo’s column at KappanOnline. This piece takes a deep dive into Burbio, the company that has become a leading source for data on how COVID-19 impacted K-12 schools across the U.S—in the absence of comprehensive data on this topic from the federal government.