Houston-area schools seeing 5% increase in COVID cases with 12,845 among students and staff
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- As of Thursday, there are 12,845 active COVID-19 cases among students and staff at 35 Houston-area school districts.
About 625 new cases were added on Thursday, resulting in a 5% increase.
A 13 Investigates analysis of 26 Houston-area districts who provide a breakdown of cases among students versus staff shows there are more COVID cases at districts without a mask mandate.
Overall, there are 12 cases per 1,000 students at districts without a mask mandate, compared to seven cases per 1,000 students at districts with a mask mandate.
That means there are 58% more students with COVID in schools that do not require face coverings.
Angleton ISD, which is reversing its course and instituting a mask mandate next week in an effort to keep more children in schools, has 27 active cases per 1,000 students.
Although it's a smaller district, Sweeny ISD tops the list with 44 cases per 1,000 students, followed by Columbia-Brazoria ISD, with 33 cases per 1,000 students.
Alief ISD saw the greatest percent increase in cases, with just 82 cases earlier this week compared to 149 active cases as of Thursday for an 82% increase.
The district doesn't provide information on how many of those active cases are students versus staff.
13 Investigates also looked into which school campuses are seeing the most cases: elementary, middle or high schools.
Not every school district breaks down the number of COVID cases by campus. We analyzed data from six districts that do break down case numbers by campus.
Overall, in Houston ISD, Katy ISD, Fort Bend ISD, Humble ISD, Alief ISD and Lamar CISD, middle schools have the most cases per 1,000 students, followed by elementary school students, then high school students.
- 20 cases per 1,000 middle school students
- 17 cases per 1,000 elementary students
- 14 cases per 1,000 high school students
