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Cornell University reported 903 cases of Covid-19 among students between December 7-13, and a "very high percentage" of them are Omicron variant cases in fully vaccinated individuals, according to university officials. The school's Covid-19 dashboard was updated late Tuesday afternoon, accounting for the jump in case numbers reported. "Virtually every case of the Omicron variant to date has been found in fully vaccinated students, a portion of whom had also received a booster shot," said Vice President for University Relations Joel Malina in a statement. (Stuart and Boxer, 12/14)

Then came the Omicron variant, which scientists believe is much more transmissible than previous variants. In addition to Cornell, George Washington and Georgetown Universities said this week that they had detected the Omicron variant in their communities. GWU, along with Smith College and Wesleyan, Brown, and Syracuse Universities, are among the small number of colleges that will require a Covid-19 booster shot. Meanwhile, dozens of colleges have revoked employee vaccine requirements since a federal judge blocked the Biden administration’s order that required some colleges, as institutions that contract with the federal government, to issue vaccine mandates. “We feel like we’re sort of at the tip of the spear,” said Benjamin Cornwell, chair of the sociology department at Cornell. “Campus is eerily empty. It’s like being in an airport at night — and it should be.” (Gluckman, 12/14)

After a fall with few coronavirus cases, officials at Syracuse University were “feeling pretty good” about the spring term, said Kent Syverud, the upstate New York school’s chancellor. “But omicron has changed that,” Syverud said. “It has made us go back and say, until we know more about this variant for sure, we’re going to have to reinstate some precautions.” Last week, Syracuse announced that all eligible students and employees must get COVID-19 booster shots before the spring term. Students will also face a round of virus tests when they return, and officials are weighing whether to extend an existing mask mandate. (Binkley, 12/15)

In other updates on school mandates —

The Los Angeles school board agreed Tuesday to delay enforcement of its student COVID-19 vaccine mandate from Jan. 10 to fall 2022, citing concerns over disrupting learning and the monumental task of transferring tens of thousands of students into independent study. The decision came after interim Supt. Megan K. Reilly laid out a plan Friday to push back the deadline because the district was confronted with the reality that about 28,000 students had not complied and under the rules would be barred from in-person schooling and enrolled in independent study. (Gomez, 12/14)

The Republican-controlled Pennsylvania Senate approved legislation Monday to prevent kids from being required to get a COVID-19 vaccination to go to school. “It’s just a measure to be sure parents have the choice to determine the health care of their own children,” said Pennsylvania State Senator Camera Bartolotta. The Republican-backed bill, SB937, passed along party lines. Senators say this bill has nothing to do with the efficacy of the vaccine, but rather everything to do with giving power to the parents. (Raymond, 12/15)

And more on the spread of covid in schools —

Newly-reported COVID-19 cases among Indiana's school children continued to climb last week, extending a worrying trend in rising cases just as many schools are preparing to end mask mandates. Schools reported more than 5,000 cases to the Indiana State Department of Health's dashboard, which tracks cases reported in K-12 schools each week. Some of the cases dated back to earlier in the year, but the vast majority occurred last week. (Herron, 12/14)

The troubling enrollment losses that school districts reported last year have in many places continued this fall, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt public education across the country, an NPR investigation has found. We compiled the latest headcount data directly from more than 500 districts in 23 states and Washington, D.C., including statewide data from Massachusetts, Georgia and Alabama. We found that very few districts, especially larger ones, have returned to pre-pandemic numbers. Most are now posting a second straight year of declines. This is particularly true in some of the nation's largest systems. (Kamenetz and Turner, 12/15)

The state has distributed $2.7 million in federal funding to public and private schools for rapid COVID-19 testing screening programs. The funding comes through a partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state Department of Public Health and Human Services. (Michels, 12/14)