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NOTE: This article had been corrected with updated information on Sept. 17.
Local school district officials are reporting an uptick in COVID-19 cases, with some districts reporting dozens of cases.
The Altoona Area School District has reported 45 cases since Sept. 10, according to the district's COVID-19 dashboard. Despite that number of cases in less than a week, Superintendent Charles Prijatelj said he's keeping things in perspective and isn't too alarmed.
"There have been positives, and it's been difficult because it's a lot to keep track of, but we have enough people involved to make it doable," Prijatelj said. He added the 45 are spread out among at least 10 buildings.
"The numbers are controllable and reasonable, and it's just a matter of staying on top of it," he said. "We're doing all right from what I've seen."
Prijatelj said that while he's "optimistically hopeful (cases) will taper down," he is encouraging more people to get vaccinated in order to slow the spread.
"The best thing people can do is get vaccinated," he said. "It's the only way."
According to Prijatelj, the statewide case threshold is 5%, which means the Altoona Area High School, with a student population of 2,220, could have up to 110 cases as a rolling average over a 14-day period.
In the Tyrone Area Middle School alone, there have been 18 cases in the past week, according to Principal Shane Cowher.
"The numbers are high," Cohwer said at the board's meeting Tuesday. "I'm worried about that, and I hope we take it seriously."
Tyrone's elementary and high schools, according to the district's website, have reported a combined 46 cases.
The Hollidaysburg Area School District has reported 38 cases so far this year, with 16 currently active. At Hollidaysburg, 213 people have had to quarantine this year, though, according to the district website, and 93 individuals were in quarantine as of last Friday.
In smaller districts, like the Spring Cove, case numbers are much lower, but even just a handful of cases leads to more students needing to quarantine, as contact tracing identifies those who were exposed to the virus.
According to Spring Cove Superintendent Betsy Baker, the district has reported just four cases so far this year, though closer to 20 students remain out of school due to being in quarantine.
Still, Baker said, matters would be much worse without guidelines and protocols, such as masking, social distancing and increased ventilation.
"Our numbers would be much higher if these guidelines were not in effect," Baker said.
COVID-19 numbers could not be found on the websites for the Claysburg-Kimmel and Williamsburg Community school districts, and neither superintendent returned requests for comment.
Mirror Staff Writer Andrew Mollenauer is at 814-946-7428.