State reports 24 new COVID outbreaks at Michigan schools

State health officials reported 24 new outbreaks of the coronavirus at Michigan schools since last week including an outbreak at Galesburg-Augusta Primary School.

Galesburg-Augusta Community Schools has been holding classes in person, but abruptly went online-only last week after five students and staff tested positive for the coronavirus. The district restarted classes at its high school and middle school Monday. Elementary students will resume in-person classes October 12.

Another 63 outbreaks are ongoing at both K-12 schools and colleges and universities. An outbreak at Western Michigan University has dropped off the list though the school continues to average about 23 new confirmed infections per day.

In total, 4,187 people have been sickened in school outbreaks listed on the state’s website. The vast majority of those, 3,896 of them, come from outbreaks on college and university campuses.

More than 1,400 staff and students have been infected at Michigan State University since September 14. Another 879 have been infected at Grand Valley State University.

An outbreak is defined as two or more infected people at the same school from different households. The state’s data is current as of October 1.

You can read the full report here.