COVID-19 cases plummet in LI schools, as a sense of normalcy returns

Long Island schools have seen an extraordinary drop in virus cases since the state lifted the school mask mandate last month, according to a Newsday analysis of state data.

The drop in cases made March the most virus-safe month of the school year and is particularly stark when compared to the vast amount of illness in January, the worst month. But experts note that cases are already inching up and another wave may occur, especially considering that many of the Island's 467,000 students will be off the week of April 18 for a holiday break. 

In January, Long Island public schools had a total of 51,731 reported cases. In March, the figure plummeted to 2,455 — a drop of 95%, according to a Newsday review of cases on the state's COVID-19 Report Card. 

But numbers have been increasing. For the two weeks ending March 31, districts reported 1,406 cases, according to state figures. That's 43% higher than what was reported for the prior two-week period, which ended March 17, when districts reported 981 cases.

Still, students, teachers and administrators are enjoying this moment in time, while hoping for the best.

"It's a bit of a new normal," said Christopher Pellettieri, superintendent of the Sachem school system, adding that he's still cautious about the future. "The virus has taught us that we don't know what the future will hold. We're trying to be optimistic."

The state mask mandate for schools ended March 2, about two years after students and staff endured social distancing, learning loss, desk guards, remote instruction, canceled sports and clubs, and lots of empty desks in classes. Most students have stopped wearing masks, school officials said.

Teachers said they now see more students talking in the halls between classes. Sports and clubs are in full swing. Students are working together again on projects. Administrators said they're no longer thinking about the virus every other thought. Some in Long Island's 656 schools said they hope this is the beginning of the end of the COVID-19 era. 

"It's like a new beginning," said Sheryl Amallobieta, a fourth-grade teacher at Lynwood Elementary School in Farmingville. "I have all my kids back. It was hard to see so many empty desks."

Amallobieta's school is in the Sachem district, which saw its number of reported cases drop 98% from January to March. A total of 1,651 cases were reported in January, including 1,261 students, 212 teachers and 178 staff, according to the state. 

For the month of March, Sachem had a total of 37 cases, including 20 students, eight teachers and nine staff, the state said.

Amallobieta said she has been planning projects for her students, such as history lessons that have them break into groups and build a boat or a wigwam out of cardboard. In addition, she is feeling less anxiety from the need to constantly protect her kids from the virus and keep up their studies.

"We did not want them to fail, to fall behind," she said.

March felt like high school

Paige Andersen is in her second year at Sachem East High School, but the 15-year-old said it hasn't really felt like high school. There were so many missed experiences due to COVID-19, she said.

"I didn't like school last year during COVID. It was just stressful, people afraid of getting sick," Andersen said. 

In March, high school started to feel like high school, she said.

I had never even seen a lot of my classmates' faces.

-Paige Andersen, 15, a sophomore at Sachem East High School

"It was amazing. I had never even seen a lot of my classmates' faces," Andersen said.

The Sachem school system had days in January when 80 cases were reported, but now there are days when no cases come up, Pellettieri said.

Pellettieri said he sees a refocusing of priorities in the schools, in which the virus no longer dominates every day. Schools continue to collect and report data on infections, as is required by the state. But he said he's not reporting the number of cases daily to the school board, just weekly.

"Not every conversation is about COVID."

-Sachem Superintendent Christopher Pellettieri 

The district saw its number of reported cases drop 98% from January to March.

Credit: Newsday/ Steve Pfost

Students are gathering for assemblies again, he said. Sachem East High School just had a performance of the musical "Grease." Students are sitting closer in class and the cafeteria, as the social distance measure is 3 feet instead of 6.

With fewer cases and restrictions, the staff can better address the learning loss and emotional toll of the virus, he said.

"Not every conversation is about COVID," Pellettieri said.

Days seem 'easier'

In Brentwood High School, senior Ricardo Lopez said these school days seem "easier."

When the mask mandate was lifted, Lopez didn't remove his right away. It took him about two weeks to feel comfortable. School officials said the majority of students and staff have removed their masks.

Brentwood schools had 1,468 reported cases in January. In March, it had 33, according to report card figures. That's a drop of 98%.

"It was great to see kids having conversations, sitting across from one another, interacting, laughing.”

-Brentwood Schools Superintendent Richard Loeschner

Brentwood schools had 1,468 reported cases in January, and 33 in March, a 98% drop.

Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.

When school reopened in January following the winter break, Brentwood High School had about 70 staff members call in sick with the virus, Superintendent Richard Loeschner said. The district was among at least nine of the Island's districts that switched to remote learning for several days during that week.

“I hope we never have to go back to that," said Loeschner, adding that the atmosphere in schools has brightened. "Today I was in three different [schools]. It was great to see kids having conversations, sitting across from one another, interacting, laughing.”

Isabella Jahkhah, 17, a senior at Brentwood High School, said school feels normal again.

"People are more excited. I'm actually getting a normal senior year — they've brought back Spirit Week and the prom," Jahkhah said. 

Jahkhah said she finds herself talking to more people in school, appreciating their smiles and facial expressions. Students are more talkative in class, she said.

People are more excited … The experience of learning is not weird anymore. 

-Isabella Jahkhah, 17, a senior at Brentwood High School

"The experience of learning is not weird anymore," Jahkhah said.

The state's school mask mandate created intense controversy in some districts on Long Island and across the nation. Numerous Island school board meetings broke down, if not shut down, because of outbursts over the masks. 

Those debates spilled into the brick-and-mortar world of the schools themselves. Students and staff said they're glad the masking debates have subsided.

"Now it's good. You don't feel the pressure of being judged," said Lopez, the Brentwood student.

Experts: Virus unpredictable

Public health experts, however, caution that the virus remains unpredictable and present.

Sean Clouston, a Stony Brook University associate professor of public health, said the drop in cases — along with the usually mild symptoms among children — might lead parents to forgo alerting the school of a new case. The advent of home-testing increases that concern, he said.

"They're less apt to test at all, and to report it ... We're really not watching what's happening to kids now."

-Sean Clouston, associate professor of public health at Stony Brook University

"They're less apt to test at all, and to report it," Clouston said. "We're really not watching what's happening to kids now."

Clouston said he worries that the upcoming holiday break might prompt an increase, as students and staff travel and attend get-togethers.

He said he does not see any correlation between the lifting of the mask mandate and the drop in cases. The omicron variant simply reached its peak, he said.

Looking ahead, it's a complicated, if not blurry, picture, said Dr. Bruce Farber, chief of public health and epidemiology for Northwell Health. While cases overall are rising, the number of people who are hospitalized and dying has not grown significantly, he said. The number of hospitalizations and deaths often lag behind case numbers.

Long Island hospitalizations fell as low as 119 on March 24 and stood at 142 on Thursday — although the number has gone up some days and down others, and many of those in the hospital with COVID-19 were admitted for other reasons. The current number is only a fraction of the 2,254 hospitalizations on Jan. 11.

Outbreaks continue to pop up, Farber said, such as the recent one in New Jersey that prompted two high schools to reinstate the mask mandate.

But so many people have either been vaccinated or ill with the virus, and that "gave us a very widespread blanket of immunity," Farber said. 

"I don't think we'll see a rise in hospitalizations and deaths like we've seen before, at least until the fall, when immunity will wane, and people will be more indoors with closed windows," he said.

With David Olson