Students gather in front of Kellogg Middle School on Sept. 1, 2021. The school is one of two newly opened in Portland Public Schools.
Elizabeth Miller / OPB
Two weeks into school, the COVID-19 dashboard from Oregon’s largest school district provides more detailed information about how COVID-19 is impacting school safety.
According to Portland Public Schools, 46 students and 10 staff members have been in isolation over the last seven days, meaning they have either tested positive for COVID-19 or are presumed to have COVID-19. A total of 105 individuals are currently in isolation.
The district did not publish a total for how many students or staff have tested positive for the virus.
The district reports more students and staff in quarantine, with groups separated by on-site and off-site exposure. Quarantine means anyone who may have been exposed to COVID-19 through close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.
The total number of students and staff in quarantine is fluctuating, as new cases are found and as people who’ve been away from school for the required length of time are able to come back. By mid-afternoon Wednesday, PPS counted 644 students and staff out of school due to COVID-19 protocols.
On Wednesday, 257 people were quarantined due to off-site exposure. 298 people were quarantined due to on-site exposure. Those numbers will change day to day as quarantine and isolation periods end.
More students are quarantined than staff members, a group the district reports is 94.6% vaccinated. The district is reporting “no data” for staff quarantined due to on-site exposure.
Five schools have students quarantining due to on-site exposure. Those include schools at the elementary, middle, and high school levels across Portland’s east side: Cesar-Chavez K-8, George Middle School, and Roosevelt High School in North Portland, as well as Bridger Elementary and Kellogg Middle School in Southeast.
Some in the PPS community question whether the dashboard numbers are accurate and up to date.
Statewide, Oregon Health Authority’s latest data reports 206 schools with recent COVID-19 cases, and 18 schools reporting “active” COVID-19 outbreaks, which means there are two or more cases in students or adults that have a shared exposure within school.
OHA’s data usually lags behind most recent information. OHA’s Sept. 9 report, for example, lists no PPS schools as having recent cases or school outbreaks, even though the district’s dashboard counted 634 people is isolation or quarantine on Sept. 9.