LDH data shows Rapides schools with high positive cases

ALEXANDRIA, La. (KALB) - According to the Louisiana Department of Health’s K through 12 self-reporting system for COVID-19 cases, Rapides Parish has the second-highest number of total cases in students as of October 20.

A big thing to remember is that with the self-reporting system, schools have the choice to enroll in reporting cases to LDH. The data from the self-reporting system shows that 11 schools in Rapides Parish reported cases between October 11 and 17. And, the total number of students cases reported since the beginning of the school year is 1,420.

The Rapides Parish School Board releases numbers every week and that data is gathered through reports directly from school-based health centers and school nurses.

Superintendent Jeff Powell responded to the recent data released by LDH and compared that to the numbers collected by the school board.

“LDH has some reporting instruments that they’re using to record this information, but as we’ve dug into it, it doesn’t appear as though every school in the state or every district is reporting all of the data in there. So, what I can comment on is the very accurate data that our nurses in our district are reporting and I think as of last week we only had 45 or so students test positive. Then, even if you track our numbers for the entire school year, I believe the last time I checked it, it was right at 6 and a half percent of students.”

That six and a half percent comes out to 1,302 students reported positive since the beginning of the school year (July 1). The Rapides Parish School board releases COVID-19 numbers for schools in the parish every week. Those numbers can be viewed by clicking here.

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