Breaking: COVID-19 Outbreak at MCPS Elementary School - College Gardens ES in Rockville

The Maryland Outbreak-Associated Cases in Schools database does not give any details about the COVID-19 outbreak at College Gardens Elementary School in Rockville, but we know that the elementary school is one of the privately run Equity Hubs being sponsored and paid for by MCPS, the Board of Education and Montgomery County Government.  

Who oversees these Equity Hubs? How were these locations selected? Were changes made to the ventilation for these select schools? How are COVID-19 outbreaks in Equity Hubs being supervised and handled? Is this the first outbreak at one of these "hubs" or is this just the first one being reported? 

Will MCPS put out a notification on this outbreak?

Severn School Anne Arundel County 4 12/30/20

St. Mary's High School Anne Arundel County 3 12/30/20

Ohr Chadash Academy Baltimore City 2 12/30/20

Bais Yaakov Eva Winer High School Baltimore County 27 12/30/20

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Baltimore County 3 12/30/20

Rosedale Baptist School Baltimore County 3 12/30/20

St. Mark's School Baltimore County 3 12/30/20

Talmudical Academy Baltimore County 36 12/30/20

Mount Aviat Academy Cecil County 5 12/30/20

Frederick Christian Academy Frederick County 10 12/30/20

West Frederick Middle School Frederick County 2 12/30/20

Windsor Knolls Middle School Frederick County 4 12/30/20

College Gardens Elementary Montgomery County 2 12/30/20

Esperanza Middle School St. Mary's County 3 12/30/20

Heritage Academy Washington County 2 12/30/20

Most Blessed Sacrament Catholic School Worcester County 3 12/30/20

 As a reminder, the Maryland Dashboard uses the following criteria for reporting COVID-19 cases.  Not all cases are reported, only those that satisfy the following criteria.

  Note: This dataset reflects public and non-public K-12 schools in Maryland that have COVID-19 outbreaks. Data are based on local health department reports to MDH, which may be revised if additional information becomes available. This list does not include child care facilities or institutes of higher education.

Schools listed meet 1 or more of the following criteria:

    1) At least two confirmed COVID-19 cases among students/teachers/staff within a 14-day period and who are epidemiologically linked, but not household contacts; or

    2) Three or more classrooms or cohorts with cases from separate households that meet the classroom/cohort outbreak definition that occurs within 14 days; or

    3) Five percent or more unrelated students/teachers/staff have confirmed COVID-19 within a 14 day period (minimum of 10 unrelated students/teachers/staff).

Cases reported reflect the current total number of cases. Schools are removed from the list when health officials determine 14 days have passed with no new cases and no tests pending. Archival data is available through the COVID-19 open data catalogue.

These data are updated weekly on Wednesdays during the 10 a.m. hour. MDH is continuously evaluating its data and reporting systems and will make updates as more data becomes available.

 https://coronavirus.maryland.gov/pages/school-resources