Photo from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

After seeing an increase in absences in the middle of November, there has been slight decreases in the number of students and staff missing class in the Pella Community and PCM School Districts.

At Pella, on Monday, 2.4% of students and 1.9% of staff were out of the building and considered absent. There are 10 positive COVID-19 tests among students, and 4% of the student body was in quarantine and participating in virtual learning. These numbers are down from the district’s first major peak of absenteeism, as on November 20th, 13 students were out with a positive test, 3.1% of all students and more than 4% of staff were absent, and 7.1% of kids were in quarantine.

At PCM, there were 40 students and staff absent from class for a reason related to COVID-19. Compared to November 20th, that is down, as 60 students and staff, or 4.9% of the PCM district’s population, were out of school.

Central College released its latest weekly COVID-19 report Monday, and reported 28 positive cases over the past week, and 43 in quarantine due to possible exposure. Since August 24th, 147 total positive tests have been reported on campus.

Following Thanksgiving, Central students had the option of returning for in-person finals or to do them virtually.