Eight Kane schools on state’s latest COVID-19 outbreak list for second consecutive week

The Feb. 25 list has eight schools, which is the same number on the Feb. 18 list

Grand Ridge Grade School staff direct students to their classrooms on the first day of school on Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021.

The Illinois Department of Public Health’s Feb. 25 COVID-19 school outbreak list has eight Kane County schools, the same number of schools on the Feb. 18 list.

New on the Feb. 25 list are Lincoln Elementary and Wild Rose Elementary, both in St. Charles District 303. Wild Rose has fewer than five cases among students with the classroom as the source of exposure, while Lincoln has fewer than five cases among students with the classroom as the source of exposure.

Remaining on the list from the previous week are Elgin Math and Science Academy, with nine cases among students with the classroom as the source of exposure, Hoover Wood Elementary School in Batavia with seven cases among students with the classroom as the source of exposure; Illinois Math and Science Academy with six cases among staff and students with sports as the source of exposure; Fabyan Elementary School in Geneva, with 10 cases among staff and students with the classroom as the source of exposure; St. Patrick School in St. Charles with five cases among students with the classroom as the source of exposure; and St. Catherine of Siena School in West Dundee with seven cases among students with the classroom as the source of exposure.

IDPH updates the school outbreak list every Friday.

IDPH considers a school outbreak as “multiple cases comprising at least 10% of students, teachers, or staff within a core group or at least three cases within a specified core group. A core group means only those individuals who were together during an exposure period.”

According to the IDPH, the school outbreak data “includes entries elicited from cases opened within the previous 30 days from date of update.”

According to IDPH, there were 285 new youth cases reported in Kane County between Feb. 13-19, the latest data available. That’s down from 396 new youth cases reported between Feb. 6-12, and 1,019 new youth cases between Jan. 23-29.