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K-12 schools to Gogebic, Ontonagon counties move to virtual learning for two weeks

WAKEFIELD — K-12 schools in Gogebic and Ontonagon counties will become the latest to temporarily move to remote instruction in response to rising COVID-19 rates in the community.

The Gogebic-Ontonagon Intermediate School District announced Saturday schools in the two counties would halt in-person instruction for two weeks starting Monday.

“The move is necessary to help reduce the rate of COVID-19 spreading within the community,” the district said in a release Saturday. “All co-curricular events, including practices, will be suspended during this period. Students and families can maintain access to food service through their local district.”

The move came at the recommendation of the Western Upper Peninsula Health Department, based on the level of community spread seen over the previous three weeks, the GOISD said.

Individual districts will communicate additional information to students and families.

As of Thursday, Gogebic County had a seven-day average of 778.5 new cases per million, after going as high as 936.1 two days higher. That rate is the highest in the Upper Peninsula. The seven-day average percentage of positive tests has climbed steadily, going from 3.6% to 9.8% over the past week.

The trend in Ontonagon County has been less pronounced, though the rate of positive tests still puts it in the highest risk category.

The seven-day average of new cases per million, which was 47.9 at the start of the month, was at 311.2 Thursday — more than twice the threshold for Risk Level E, the state’s highest.

The seven-day average percentage of positives, which had been between 0% and 2% for most of September and early October, more than doubled two weeks ago and has remained in that neighborhood, standing at 4.3% as of Thursday. That figure puts it in Risk Level A (3-7%), the second-lowest risk category.

The state average Thursday was 137.5 and 5.4%.

The closure is the second to occur in the WUPHD’s six-county area. Schools in Houghton County went to remote instruction for two weeks in late September and early October. The seven-day average for new cases fell from 793.7 per million the day it was announced to 192.5 the day classes resumed. They now stand at 141.4.

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