Schools in the region are sticking to their educational delivery models as COVID-19 cases rise across the state.

On Saturday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 4,035 additional positive cases of COVID-19, bringing the statewide total to 227,985. This was the highest daily increase of cases to date.

Lehighton Area School District released an update Friday, stating it “will continue with the current delivery model; however, we need to keep in mind that the counties around us are currently at the substantial transmission level.”

Currently, Lehighton’s elementary and middle school students attend in-person five days a week. There is also a virtual option for parents, where the district uses a Swivl robotic platform to record the lesson. High school students are attending in-person twice a week under a hybrid model.

Lehighton officials said they would continue to work with the Pennsylvania Department of Health and monitor the current rate of transmission throughout the county on a weekly basis.

“We want to make the educational community aware that we are continuing to offer our current educational delivery models to our students and we are not planning to change the instructional model at this time,” the district’s update stated.

The state Department of Education and Department of Health recommend districts move to fully remote learning when there is substantial community transmission, or offer a hybrid model when there is moderate community transmission.

Substantial risk kicks in when counties have more than 100 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents or more than a 10% positivity rate over the past seven days.

According to statistics for the week of Oct. 30-Nov. 5, it appears Carbon County will be moving into the “substantial transmission” category, with 137 cases per 100,000 residents and a 7.5% positivity rate. The county had 45 more cases than during the week prior. Up until this point, Carbon had been at the moderate transmission level for six consecutive weeks.

Palmerton

All of Palmerton Area School District’s schools are operating under the hybrid model. Students attend in-person on either Monday and Tuesday, or Wednesday and Thursday, with classes held virtually the other three days.

The district has reported eight positive COVID-19 tests with back-to-back cases in the high school on Thursday and Friday.

Superintendent Dr. Jodi Frankelli said last week that contact tracing has proved pivotal in showing the cases have not been connected and a spread throughout school buildings is not taking place.

“Our first two cases were siblings who lived in the same house,” Frankelli said. “Since then, we’ve been able to trace the cases and in most cases the individual contracted COVID from a household member who was already in quarantine. If the contact tracing gets to a point where someone gets it from a student or someone else in the school, that is where it gets stickier.”

Frankelli said if Carbon moves to the substantial transmission level, as it appears will be announced by the state this week, any decision to close schools would be made in consultation with the state Department of Health.

“That decision in every school district is made at the discretion of the superintendent,” she said. “One of the things we would want to make sure of is that it is not just a one-week spike in the data. It will be interesting to see how it plays out in Lehigh County. We’ll be keeping an eye on that.”

Jim Thorpe and Panther Valley have reported few cases and continue with their current schedules.

Schuylkill and Lehigh

In Schuylkill County, the Tamaqua Area School District reported another COVID-19 case over the weekend.

Superintendent Ray Kinder addressed district families in a letter dated Nov. 7.

“We were informed of one positive case of COVID-19 in our school district. The individual is a student at Tamaqua Elementary School. The student is in isolation and recovering,” Kinder said.

After consulting the state Department of Health, it was determined that six people needed to quarantine.

“Cases we have had thus far appear isolated. If cases begin to cluster or become widespread, we will need to react cautiously to support the health and well-being of our students and staff,” Kinder wrote in the letter posted on the Tamaqua Elementary School’s website.

Schuylkill County reported 55 new cases on Saturday.

In Lehigh County, schools are continuing with the hybrid model, despite moving into the substantial level of community transmission.

Northern Lehigh Superintendent Matthew Link said Monday morning, “As of now, we are continuing with the hybrid model. We continue to evaluate the status of our building on a daily basis to determine if we can remain in the hybrid model.”

Monroe County’s transmission numbers are lower. Pleasant Valley remains on a hybrid model.

Justin Carlucci and Terry Ahner contributed to this report.