WATERTOWN, N.Y. (WWTI) — School was back in session this week following a holiday break and the start to the New Year.

Prior to the beginning of sessions resuming, New York began plans to keep schools in person as COVID-19 cases spiked statewide. This included the distribution of COVID-19 testing kits and the implementation of “Test-to-Stay” protocols.

But despite these strategies, COVID-19 cases continued to surge throughout the North Country in the first week of 2022, quickly impacting North Country schools.

Below is a breakdown, by county, of cases confirmed since the final report before the holidays on December 23, through January 6. There is also a total number of cases reported to NYDOH since the start of the 2021-2022 school year.

Jefferson County

School District	New student cases	Student cases to-date	New teacher/staff cases	Teacher/staff cases to-date	Total
Alexandria	1	21	2	13	36
Belleville Henderson	5	34	4	20	56
Carthage	15	209	13	89	298
General Brown	10	122	6	22	144
Indian River	59	284	17	69	353
LaFargeville	6	45	4	14	59
Lyme	13	45	4	4	49
Sackets Harbor	3	23	4	6	29
South Jefferson	39	199	19	57	256
Thousand Islands	24	79	5	16	95
Watertown	18	362	11	69	431

Lewis County

School District	New student cases	Student cases to-date	New teacher/staff cases	Teacher/staff cases to-date	Total
Beaver River	24	83	16	32	115
Copenhagen	3	51	2	16	67
Harrisville	0	17	0	0	17
Lowville	27	137	9	24	161
South Lewis	18	126	10	33	159

St. Lawrence County

School District	New student cases	Student cases to-date	New teacher/staff cases	Teacher/staff cases to-date	Total
Brasher Falls	12	129	6	29	158
Canton	12	90	2	13	103
Clifton-Fine	0	13	0	6	19
Colton-Pierrepont	23	74	3	13	87
Edwards-Knox	10	54	7	20	74
Gouverneur	18	219	15	55	274
Hammond	4	14	2	5	19
Hermon-Dekalb	4	44	2	14	58
Heuvelton	3	44	2	15	59
Lisbon	0	37	0	5	42
Madrid-Waddington	12	86	4	18	104
Massena	23	260	5	51	311
Morristown	2	37	1	15	52
Norwood-Norfolk	40	109	8	27	136
Ogdensburg	14	148	10	30	178
Parishville-Hopkinton	3	29	11	22	51
Potsdam	20	78	15	28	121

Beginning September 13, all schools in New York were required to report COVID-19 cases to the Department of Health on a daily basis. Following the start to this requirement, the DOH relaunched its COVID tracking website, as it was previously undergoing maintenance.

Now, similar to the 2020-2021 school year, student and employee COVID-19 cases are detailed online. A breakdown of current cases by county in the North Country is included below. All data is through October 7, 2021.