The Thanksgiving Day holiday break served up a heaping helping of COVID-19 along with the turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.

In Northampton Area School District, letters to parents and guardians since Dec. 1 have reported 37 more confirmed cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 93 in the district since the start of the school year.

The Dec. 7 letter was the first in double figures, listing 15 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the district. Another case was reported Dec. 8.

Of those, seven confirmed COVID-19 cases were for individuals since Dec. 1, when the hybrid system of in-person classes resumed, and after.

Meanwhile, more parents apparently prefer remote learning for their students. At the beginning of the hybrid system, 25 percent of NASD students were engaged in eLearning. That has increased to 33 percent of students now choosing eLearning.

“We’ll see what tomorrow brings,” NASD Superintendent of Schools Joseph S. Kovalchik said at the Dec. 7 board of education meeting.

An increase beyond Pennsylvania Department of Health guidelines for schools could send NASD back to remote instruction.

“When I get into the office tomorrow morning, there may be six more cases overnight,” Kovalchik said after the meeting Dec. 7. “It’s hour by hour, day by day. That’s the most difficult part of COVID, providing information.”

During the Dec. 7 meeting, which included the annual reorganization of the school board with directors voting unanimously 9-0 to re-elect David Gogel as president and Chuck Frantz as vice president, Kovalchik gave a COVID-19 update.

“It’s like living in a perpetual snow day,” Kovalchik said, by way of comparing the uncertainty of weather forecasts, snowfall and canceling classes to the decision to continue the hybrid system of education in the district.

“Last week, we came back from the Thanksgiving break, we had a total of 21 new COVID cases. Today, a letter went out. We had another 15 cases in the district,” Kovalchik said Dec. 7.

Kovalchik explained although the numbers in the letters seem shocking, the numbers have not risen to the level of Pennsylvania Department of Health-recommended school closures, which includes closing a school for 14 days if there are 11-plus cases of COVID-19 within a rolling 14-day period among students and staff in the same building of 900-plus students.

The NASD student population is as follows: Northampton Area High School, 1,900; Northampton Area Middle School, 1,350; Siegfried Elementary School, 720; Lehigh Elementary School, 460; George Wolf Elementary School, 460; Moore Elementary School, 375; and Franklin Elementary School, 130.

Kovalchik said there are other factors to consider, in addition to the sheer number of COVID-19 cases in the district. There’s the matter of staffing. Some NASD staff members, information Kovalchik is not able to disclose, have tested positive for COVID-19.

“The issue we have is staffing. It’s becoming a problem,” Kovalchik said in his report to the school board.

Some of the remote-learning classes have as many as 50 students.

In other business at the Dec. 7 meeting, school directors voted unanimously 9-0 to approve the same committee appointments for 2021 as for 2020 and the board meeting schedule for 2021, to be held in the NAMS cafeteria, 1617 Laubach Ave., instead of the meeting room of the administration building. The large size of the NAMS cafeteria allows Centers for Disease Control and Prevention social distancing protocol to be followed for school directors, administrators and the public.

“The meetings are going to continue to remain for the time being in the middle school. Attorney (C. Steven) Miller will add some language in case we have to go back to virtual meetings because of COVID,” Kovalchik said.

Gerald Pretzik, of Chapman Borough and an NAMS seventh-grader, spoke during the meeting’s public comment portion. Pretzik read a list of statistics he said proves the wearing of face masks is ineffective to combat the community spread of COVID-19.

“I think we should go back to school full time,” Pretzik said.

The board of education will meet 6:30 p.m. Dec. 21 in the NAMS cafeteria. The meeting is open to the public. Face masks and social distancing COVID-19 protocol are required.