Norwin adds 16 covid cases this week; 32 since holiday break

Norwin School District officials said they were notified of 12 more coronavirus cases among students and staff on Friday, raising the total number of cases to 32 since the holiday break began Dec. 22.

Two students each from the high school, middle school, Hillcrest Intermediate, Stewartsville Elementary and Sunset Valley Elementary were confirmed covid cases, and there was one Norwin Online Academy student, too.

One Sunset Valley employee also reported having coronavirus, the school district said.

There were 16 cases reported, of which 13 were students, from Dec. 22 to Jan. 6, and four more cases were reported on Thursday.

Norwin on Friday had 17 active covid cases and a total of 238 cases since school began on Aug. 31.

Return to hybrid Monday

Norwin returns to a hybrid model of instruction for its 5,300 students beginning Monday, during which students would receive two days of remote instruction and three days of virutal learning, once the high school semester ends Wednesday.

Those students and staff who reported testing positive for coronavirus will not return to school until they have completed the required isolation procedures for covid, the district said.

Eighteen students and 7 staff members are under quarantine. Those who need to quarantine are those who have been or will be personally contacted by the state Health Department, the school nurse, or a school administrator.

The schools do not need additional sanitizing,the district said, so that all buildings will be ready for students and staff on Monday.

The additional cases come at a time when the four ZIP codes covering most of the North Huntingdon-Irwin-North Irwin areas served by Norwin showed just a 5% increase in confirmed covid cases from Dec. 28 to Jan. 4. The number and percentage of new cases week-over-week have trended downward since before Christmas.