The Groton and Norwich school districts have notified families that they each have seen a positive COVID-19 case.

Norwich Public Schools was notified Friday that a member of the Huntington Elementary School community tested positive for coronavirus, Superintendent Kristen Stringfellow wrote in a letter to families and staff Friday night. She said this person was last in the school building on Tuesday.

"The affected person has been instructed to remain home in self-isolation for 10 days and has been provided with additional instructions to follow prior to returning to school. Family members have also been instructed to self-quarantine and get tested," Stringfellow wrote.

The district is monitoring this situation and working directly with Patrick McCormack, director of health for Uncas Health District. Stringfellow said the district already has contacted anyone who was in close contact with the infected person and those people have been provided "instructions on the appropriate steps to take."

In-person learning "in hybrid cohorts continues to be the instructional model in all schools in the Norwich Public School Department on Monday as authorized by Uncas Health," Stringfellow said by email late Friday night.

Groton Public Schools also learned Friday that a member of the Fitch High School community has tested positive for COVID-19, Superintendent Michael Graner announced in a note Friday to parents, guardians and staff.

“Fortunately, we have documented that the individual has not been in school for over a week,” Graner wrote. “Ledge Light Health District will conduct contact tracing and will reach out to only those individuals who had recent close personal contact with this person.”

He concluded, “We are monitoring this situation with Ledge Light Health District and will provide you with updates if additional information becomes available. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.”

This case has no impact on the school schedule.

Graner noted in a phone call that he pledged to the school community last week that whenever there is a positive case, he would immediately notify parents and staff.

He said he couldn’t specify whether the person is a student, teacher or other staff member, saying, “Any individual who tests positive for (COVID-19) has enough problems, without worrying about their confidentiality being breached.”

Graner said the school district helped Ledge Light with contact tracing, meaning the identification of people who were within 6 feet of the infected person for over 15 minutes.

Graner said if there are more cases, any decision about asking a cohort to self-quarantine or halting practice of a sports team, for example, would be made on a case-by-case basis in consultation with Ledge Light.

Separately, Connecticut Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona on Friday announced two new state Department of Education initiatives to collect weekly data on learning models and enrollment data, and in October will start monthly collecting student membership and attendance data for the month of September.

Results from the initial collection of learning model and enrollment data from Sept. 8 to 11 found that hybrid learning models were offered in a majority of schools. In the high school grades, about 14% of district grades offered a fully in-person learning model while nearly 78% offered instruction in a hybrid format. Fully remote learning was offered in about 6% to 8% of public school district grades. About 162,000 of nearly 510,000 students, or 32%, were fully remote.

Cases across the state, including in the region, have been climbing at a faster pace in recent days.

“We’ve gotten a lot of cases in the past four days, 10 to 15,” Norwich City Manager John Salomone said. “The trend is more than it has been. That’s why we have to keep our vigilance up. People have been asking why we’re still having the Zoom meetings. This is why. We’re not out of the woods.”

Connecticut has seen 55,527 confirmed and probable cases as of Friday evening, an increase of 141 since Thursday evening. Four additional associated deaths were reported in that 24-hour period, bringing the state's total to 4,492, and two more patients were hospitalized, bringing the total to 77. The state said 1,419,839 tests have been reported as of Friday evening, 13,865 more than what was reported Thursday.

As of 4 p.m. Friday, New London County has seen 1,646 confirmed cases of COVID-19, an increase of 11, and 71 probable cases, an increase of one, from what the state reported Thursday. Three more confirmed deaths associated with the disease brought the county’s total to 86 since the pandemic began, while suspected deaths remained at 28 in that 24-hour period. Hospitalizations decreased by two, for a total of two in the county.

The state next reports updated numbers on Monday.

Day Staff Writers Erica Moser, Claire Bessette and Jacinta Meyers contributed to this report.