The Illinois Education Association called for the Illinois Department of Public Health to identify verified COVID-19 outbreaks in schools.
The announcement comes after ProPublica Illinois revealed in a story published Thursday that while Illinois public health officials have identified COVID-19 outbreaks in at least 44 school buildings, they won’t disclose where those buildings are and that they may not know the full picture of how the virus has spread.
IDPH defines an outbreak as two or more confirmed cases within 14 days of the start of symptoms in people who do not share a household and did not have close contact in another setting.
According to the Illinois State Board of Education’s map, which was last updated on September 21, 685-thousand Illinois students are attending school in person, at least part time, in 69 percent of the state’s school districts. More districts are contemplating returning to the classroom in the coming weeks.
