The Chautauqua County Department of Health announced 17 new cases of COVD-19 on Friday afternoon, capping off a week in which 129 total new cases were announced.

The county has confirmed 1,294 total cases since March.

Of the new cases, one is in the Frewsburg are, three are in the Jamestown area, four are in the Fredonia area, two are in the Dunkirk area, one is in the Clymer area, two are in the Cassadaga area, two are in the Falconer area, one is in the Dewittville area and one is in the Silver Creek area.

There are five hospitalizations, down from the 10 recorded on Wednesday and the 25 announced Nov. 2.

The county also announced that it is continuing to monitor a cluster of cases related to the Beaver Club in Fredonia — 11 cases are still active and two have recovered. There have been 23 cases linked to other social clubs of which 20 have recovered and three remain active.

Schools, meanwhile, are taking precautions to prevent further spread of the virus as the Thanksgiving holiday looms.

Jamestown Public Schools announced five new cases, reporting at least one case on four straight days. On Friday, the district announced that the students across the district’s 10 buildings would learn remotely the week after Thanksgiving from Nov. 30 to Dec. 4. The hybrid schedule will return from Dec. 7 to 22 and then after the Christmas break, students once again will go remote-only from Jan. 4 to 8.

Superintendent Kevin Whitaker confirmed the district’s plans with Chautauqua County Department of Health Commissioner, Christine Schuyler.

“We know the holidays will be a time that families may gather,” Whitaker said. We want to ensure the health and safety of our students, staff and community by providing additional time at home in hopes of keeping a COVID-19 surge from happening in our schools. We want our schools to remain safe and to be open as much as possible for our students. Please be aware that these measures will be dependent on the guidance of the Health Department and New York State. Circumstances regarding how instruction is delivered, in school or remotely, are always subject to change. However, we want to give our families and staff as much notice as possible to prepare for this change.”

One positive case from a staff member at Cassadaga Valley Middle/High School and another from a staff member at Sinclairville Elementary School led that district to also pivot to remote learning into next week, Superintendent Chuck Leichner announced on Thursday.

“We have 11 or 12 staff members that are going to be quarantined as a result of this positive case,” he said in a video posted on the school’s Facebook and Twitter pages. “That is a significant number when you think about the work that has to be done in an elementary school our size.”

Still, superintendents maintain that the strict protocols that they are under as mandated by the state education and health departments have made it so the virus has a minimal chance of spreading in their buildings.

We’ve done a great job between our students and staff and our maintenance crews and they have helped us maintain our protocols,” Whitaker told school board members two weeks ago. “We just need parents helping us with making sure our kids are acting appropriately and following the procedures.”

“Because of how disciplined we’ve been in keeping our school buildings clean and up to protocol, it’s not going to be at school where there’s a huge eruption,” he added. “It’s going to be locally or nearby.”

CONFIRMED COVID-19 CASES (through Nov. 13 at 12 p.m.)

¯ Bemus Point: one teacher off-site at Maple Grove Junior-Senior High School; two teachers on-site at Bemus Point Elementary School; one student off-site at Maple Grove Junior-Senior High School

¯ Brocton: two students off-site at Brocton Middle-High School; one teacher on-site at Brocton Middle-High School

¯ Cassadaga Valley: two teachers on-site and one teacher off-site at Cassadaga Valley Middle-High School; one student on-site and one student off-site at Sinclairville Elementary School;

¯ Chautauqua Lake: none;

¯ Clymer: none;

¯ Dunkirk: one teacher on-site and one off-site student at Dunkirk Middle School; two students, one off-site and one on-site, at Dunkirk Senior High School; one student off-site at Elementary School No. 3; one student off-site at School No. 4; two teachers on-site at School No. 5; six students, two on-site and and four off-site, at School No. 7;

¯ Falconer: three students at Falconer Middle-High School, one on-site and two off-site; one student on-site at Fenner Elementary School;

¯ Forestville: one teacher off-site at Forestville Elementary School

¯ Fredonia: one student and one teacher on-site at Fredonia Elementary School; one teacher on-site at Fredonia Middle School

¯ Frewsburg: none

¯ Gowanda: one student on-site at Gowanda Elementary School; one student on-site and one student off-site at Gowanda High School;

¯ Jamestown: one student on-site at Bush Elementary School; one student on-site at Washington Middle School; two students off-site and one teacher on-site at Jamestown High School; two students on-site and one student off-site at Fletcher Elementary School;

¯ Panama: none;

¯ Pine Valley: one student on-site at Pine Valley Elementary School;

¯ Randolph: none

¯ Ripley: none;

¯ Salamanca: none;

¯ Sherman: none;

¯ Silver Creek: three students at Silver Creek Elementary School, two students on-site and one student off-site; one teacher on-site at Silver Creek High School; two students on-site at Silver Creek Middle School

¯ Southwestern: three students on-site at Southwestern Senior High School; two teachers on-site at Southwestern Elementary School;

¯ Westfield: two students off-site and one teacher on-site at Westfield Middle School.