Massachusetts schools will be required to resume COVID case reporting, officials say

Massachusetts schools will be required to resume reporting positive COVID-19 cases among students and staff members, education officials confirmed Wednesday morning.

Last month, the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education had said districts would not be required to report positive cases in school buildings for the new academic year. It was a change from last school year, when cases were tracked and data was released in a weekly report from DESE.

But now, all school districts will need to resume reporting positive COVID cases to DESE starting the week of Sept. 13, officials told MassLive.

The data will be available in weekly reports again. Officials said the data will give DESE Commissioner Jeffrey Riley more information to assess conditions at schools.

Though more students and staff members have had a chance to get vaccinated compared to last school year, COVID cases have caused disruptions already for some districts since kids returned to classrooms. In Melrose, two classes have been quarantined following exposure on the second day of school. And at Farmington River Elementary School, a Berkshire County school with just over 100 children enrolled, school remains closed for a third day because of confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Masks are required until at least Oct. 1 in Massachusetts schools, but other COVID-19 health and safety requirements, like distancing, have been dropped since last school year.

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