Nearly 14,000 cases of coronavirus in students and staff have been reported to the city’s situation room since Dec. 23, a period of time that falls mainly during the system’s winter break when students were at home.

The situation room logged 13,963 reports from principals of positive cases over the course of 12 days, a significant surge in cases compared to earlier in the year. In the three months between Sept. 13 and Dec. 22, there had been just 21,828 cases reported.

“This number represents every case called in by principals over the 11 day winter break, as schools remained vigilant in identifying cases, reporting them, and stopping the spread hand-in-hand with the Situation room,” DOE spokesman Nathaniel Steyer said. "The daily number is comparable to our pre-break daily average. Moving forward our website will be updated to ensure the public has a clear view of the health and safety of our schools.”  

The number of cases reported to the situation room had begun spiking before the break began. Over winter break, the city also began counting positive rapid test results as confirmed cases, without requiring confirmation from labs.

Many of the students and staff tested positive in the days following the Christmas holidays.

Here’s a breakdown by date of the positive test. (Note that according to the DOE, the Dec. 23 count includes tests that were conducted prior to that date but which were reported to the situation room on a lag. The DOE did not break down how many of the total were reported before Dec. 23.)

Positive Tests By Day Test Was Taken:
Before or on 12/23/21: 1,066
12/24/21: 277
12/25/21: 216
12/26/21: 497
12/27/21: 970
12/28/21: 1,086
12/29/21: 1,285
12/30/21: 1,668
12/31/21: 1,541
1/1/21: 985
1/2/21: 2,476
1/3/21: 1,681
No date of test given: 215