While it was known both Lafayette County and Oxford school districts opted to move their middle schools, and Lafayette High School, to virtual learning this week due to a surge in COVID-19 cases, it was not known how bad the recent wave was.

Monday brought about that answer, with both districts providing their COVID-19 updates for last week.

Last Tuesday, LCSD shifted seventh through 12th grade to a hybrid schedule through Nov. 30, but then announced on Friday they would be moving to fully virtual classes this week leading up to Thanksgiving Break.

For the week of Nov. 9 through 15, LCSD reported 47 new cases of COVID-19. The largest concentration came from LHS, where 23 students and seven faculty or staff members reported new cases, while LMS only had one new case among faculty and staff. The second-highest number came from Lafayette Elementary School, which reported six new cases among students and two among staff. Lafayette Upper Elementary reported six cases among students and there were two more cases reported among other departments in the district.

Last week’s number of cases was the highest single-week total since LCSD returned to school on Aug. 3. Prior to last week, LCSD had a total of 65 cases.

The most recent surge of cases also forced Lafayette to suspend all athletic activities through Nov. 30.

Oxford School District announced on Thursday they would be shifting OMS to fully virtual instruction through the rest of November due to a high number of COVID-19 cases. Monday’s report by OSD showed the middle school had eight cases among students and one case among staff last week.

As a district, OSD reported 14 new cases of COVID-19. Two OHS students reported positive cases, while one student and one staff member at Central Elementary School also reported positive cases. One staff member in another OSD department reported a positive case.

The nine positive cases at OMS caused 154 students to go into quarantine and six members of faculty and staff, due to contact tracing. There were 11 students and one staff member at OHS that went into quarantine, while two students and one staff member at Central Elementary went into quarantine.