471 DeKalb County students contract COVID-19, nearly 2,000 quarantined among 3 districts

Over the past week, 471 students from DeKalb, Sycamore and Genoa-Kingston schools were reported positive for the coronavirus. And 1,916 students were quarantined due to exposure, according to new data released Tuesday.

The number of students quarantined is approximately 18% of both the DeKalb and Sycamore school districts’ student body population and 6.2% of the Genoa-Kingston school district’s.

The update comes amid a surging omicron variant and record numbers reported in the county and nation after the holidays.

COVID-19 case and quarantine data released by local schools is provisional, with most recent statistics varying by district.

There is a 21.5% seven-day positivity rate within DeKalb School District 428 communities, including DeKalb, Malta and Cortland. From Jan. 9 through Jan. 14 in DeKalb schools, 165 students contracted the virus and 1,187 students quarantined districtwide. The numbers of staff who have contracted the virus and were quarantined were not available.

According to enrollment numbers from the most recent available Illinois Report Card data, DeKalb School District’s quarantine rate is about 18% of its student body population, which is 6,427 in the 2021-2022 school year.

For the week of Jan. 10 in Sycamore Community School District 427, 227 students tested positive for COVID-19, with 151 students excluded in quarantine because of close contact and 486 additional students in quarantine. There were 33 employees that tested positive for COVID-19, 3 employees excluded in quarantine because of close contact and 45 additional employees in quarantine.

Sycamore School District’s quarantine rate is about 18% of its student body of 3,533, according to the most recent available enrollment data.

In the Genoa-Kingston school district, between Jan. 1 and Jan. 8 there were 79 students and 12 employees who tested positive for the coronavirus. In that time frame, 92 students were also in quarantine but not positive, as was one employee, according to data released by the district Tuesday. According to enrollment data, that means about 6.2% of Genoa-Kingston School District’s student population of 1,480 is in quarantine.

Each school district updates its COVID-19 reports at least once a week. In DeKalb, data is collected each Friday and will be updated on the district’s website each Monday, according to the website. In Sycamore, the COVID-19 online data page is updated weekly. Genoa-Kingston’s data is released every other week via a Twitter post from O’Daniell and also is shared on the district’s website.