WORCESTER, Mass. - ​Much like the city as a whole, COVID-19 case numbers in the Worcester Public Schools have seen a steady increase in the last few weeks.

"We anticipated with the Thanksgiving holiday with large congregating of families that numbers could go up," school safety director, Rob Pezzella, said. 

What You Need To Know

  • Worcester Public Schools is seeing more students test positive for COVID-19, especially following Thanksgiving
  • School Safety Director Rob Pezzella says some schools are testing more than two dozen students on a daily basis
  • Pezzella also says he is buying 100,000 masks every three weeks to meet the needs of the district
  • Dr. Michael Hirsh says he expects a peak in COVID-19 cases roughly two weeks after the New Year

Pezzella pointed to the "Test and Stay" program as a major helper, particularly when it comes to the increase in cases. The program tests students who have potentially exposed to COVID-19. Students are allowed to stay in school if they test negative for the virus for five consecutive days. 

"What we're seeing is that, in particular, more students are testing positive for COVID-19," Pezzella said. "There are some schools that are testing in our 'Test and Stay' program up to 25 students a day."

When talking about totals for this year, Pezzella said, "We're well over 1,000 students that are close contacts or a significant amount of them testing positive as well."

On top of testing, Pezzella says he gets up to two dozen calls daily from school staff saying they've identified a student as a close contact. The increase has forced made him busy ensuring all city school buildings are taking the proper precautions.

"I'm ordering over 100,000 masks, both adults and children, every three weeks to accommodate the need from schools," said Pezzella.

On top of the holidays, Dr. Michael Hirsh points to the colder weather as a factor behind the increase. He says more people are gathering indoors this time of year, and is not expecting to see a peak for another month.

"The peak for all of this, I think, is going to be mid-January," Dr. Hirsh said. "We're going to know a lot more about what role omicron plays in the next two weeks really."

Reasons like this are why Pezzella and the district are preparing for the new year now.

"When students come back, we know we're going to have positive cases," Pezzella said. "So, we have to make sure that close contacts get immediate service so it doesn't spread throughout the school building."