Watervliet administrators noticed this morning that the New York State School COVID-19 Dashboard indicates two positive cases have been reported within the district. However, at this time the district is not aware of any students or staff members who have tested positive for COVID-19.

Superintendent Dr. Lori Caplan has been in contact with the Albany County Department of Health (ACDOH), which confirmed that they also have no reported cases on record.

ACDOH has reached out to the New York State Department of Health for further clarification of the data appearing in the state’s dashboard. ACDOH indicated in an email that several districts have had positive cases that they were not aware of appear on their dashboard. The district will provide an update when information becomes available.

“The safety of our students, employees, families and larger community remains our top priority,” said Caplan. “We remain committed to open communication as the COVID-19 outbreak continues, and we would inform our community directly if there were to be a confirmed case linked to our schools.”

Watervliet, like all schools in New York state, is required to submit a daily report to the state of any confirmed cases of COVID-19 linked to a district school. The COVID-19 Report Card is available to the public on the New York State Department of Health website and includes daily case statistics from schools throughout the state. While the dashboard is an important tool for identifying trends regionally and statewide, please know that any information regarding COVID-19 in the Watervliet schools will be shared with you directly and will not be delayed by these additional reporting requirements.

On the state dashboard, it is especially important to note that for every school district, the state includes a number that is an estimate of “Lab Reported Positives based on Residential Address” as part of its school COVID Report Card. This is an estimate only (currently at one for addresses located in the district). This estimate does not reflect the number of cases confirmed in any Watervliet school (currently at zero). Individual school data on the dashboard is listed separately below this estimated number.