The cluster includes cases at schools, universities and sports associations.

Erie County Department of Health officials are investigating a cluster of COVID-19 cases that involves athletic teams from county schools, universities and sports associations.

Melissa Lyon, county health department director, did not disclose how many cases are involved in the cluster, or the teams or type of sports involved. She would only say they are “organized, contact sports teams.”

“Clusters of cases take significant staff time to identify all close contacts and who is associated with index cases,” Lyon said in an email. “The school districts, sports associations and universities have been extremely cooperative throughout the process and have assisted as appropriate.”

The county health department’s investigation comes as Millcreek Township School District announced Thursday that McDowell High School’s boys and girls soccer programs would be sidelined until Oct. 7 due to an increase in probable COVID-19 cases in the district.

Questions about the postponements and probable cases were referred to Krystal Krawczyk, the Millcreek district’s pandemic coordinator. Krawczyk declined to comment beyond a post on the district’s Facebook page that announced the postponements.

Gannon University continues to track a surge in COVID-19 cases and exposures among two of its athletic teams. Four student-athletes have tested positive and about 35 others have been quarantined after having close contact with an infected person.

Practices for the two teams, which Gannon officials would not identify, were postponed in mid-September, said Doug Oathout, Gannon chief of staff and director of marketing and communications.

“I don’t think our cases are connected to the McDowell cases,” Oathout said. “The timelines don’t match up. Our first cases were much earlier.”

The cluster of COVID-19 cases from athletic teams has contributed to the county’s recent overall rise in cases.

A total of 56 cases were reported in the county this week, a significant increase from the 36 cases reported the week of Sept. 11-17, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

The county also saw increases in the other weekly COVID-19 measures, including the:

· Incidence rate of COVID-19 per 100,000, from 13.2 to 20.6

· COVID-19 test positivity rate, from 1.6% to 2.1%

· Average number of daily hospitalizations due to COVID-19, from 5.4 to 7.4

· Average number of patients with COVID-19 on a ventilator, from 1.0 to 1.3

· Percentage of emergency department visits due to COVID-19, from 0.5% to 0.6%.

The statewide weekly COVID-19 measures all declined this week except for the percentage of emergency department visits, which rose slightly.

Executive Kathy Dahlkemper on Friday reported 12 new cases of COVID-19 and one new death.

Erie County has 1,526 total cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic started.

Of the county’s cases, 1,421 have recovered from COVID-19, 52 people have died and there are 53 active cases.

A total of 27,033 negative COVID-19 tests have been reported in the county through Thursday morning, giving the county a 5.3% positive test rate.

Statewide, 806 new cases have been reported, increasing Pennsylvania’s total number of cases to 154,203. There were two new deaths across the state and Pennsylvania has a 7.8% positive test rate.

This work is being provided for free as a public service to our readers during the coronavirus outbreak. Please support local journalism by subscribing to GoErie.com at www.goerie.com/join.

Contact David Bruce at dbruce@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNBruce.

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