Derry Township School District announced on Thursday, December 3rd that students would remain virtual until after winter recess. The students had already been doing Zoom classes since Friday, November 13th, but they were originally expected to return to school December 1st. 

Superintendent Joe McFarland sent out an email which was also posted on the district website explaining why Hershey is remaining with online instruction. He said, “The percentage of COVID-19 tests coming back positive has grown from 10.47% November 12 to now register at 17.09% in our local ZIP codes.” This rise in cases is what health professionals were calling for after Thanksgiving. 

The New York Times said, “Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, one of the federal government’s top infectious disease experts, said that clusters of new infections driven by the Thanksgiving holiday could emerge ahead of Christmas.” With COVID-19 cases already being at a spike similar to when the pandemic first hit, many schools have been going virtual from the Thanksgiving surge. 

In regards to Hershey, though, McFarland said, “We will continue to monitor all the county, local and district data with the intention to return to hybrid instruction on Monday, January 4. If there is any change to this timeframe, we will communicate that to you no later than Thursday, December 31.”

DTSD also instituted a COVID-19 dashboard on its website.  The dashboard will publicly track the number of suspected and confirmed cases of coronavirus at each of DTSD’s school buildings.  

As on Thursday, December 10, 2020, DTSD lists 21 total cases with 11 in the high school alone.  Additionally, 85 individual staff and students have had to quarantine in the last 14 days.