Could omicron surge bring back virtual school in Michiana districts?
Students returning to class this week across St. Joseph County may not see immediate changes in coronavirus policies, but educators say they’re watching guidance closely as Indiana sets new records for COVID-19 positivity.
While students were on winter break, hospital capacities reached new lows and the state surpassed its record number of coronavirus cases reported in a single day by more than 3,100 cases — prompting some to question what changes, if any, should be made as students begin the spring semester.
Last winter’s surge: County officials recommend turn back to virtual learning
The last time Indiana saw a surge of this level, schools across the state adopted changes ranging from hybrid learning that rotated students in and out of classes to virtual instruction five days a week.
So far, multiple Indiana districts have announced returns to virtual learning, while others say they plan to weigh attendance rates and staffing levels before making any changes.
Administrators at Penn High School recorded dozens of new COVID-19 cases on students’ first day back Monday and postponed the school’s annual winter formal.
And, South Bend schools moved quickly to adopt new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance halving, in some cases, the amount of time COVID-positive students need to spend out of class.
“At this point, it’s obviously very fluid,” South Bend schools spokeswoman Susan Guibert said. “We’re adhering to CDC guidelines and being flexible to see what each week brings.”
Will schools go back to virtual learning?
Last year, when coronavirus cases surged, St. Joseph County’s health officers recommended high schools move to virtual learning and districts adopted varying levels of fully remote and hybrid instruction with staggered returns to in-person learning the following spring.
Some districts outside of St. Joseph County went fully virtual for multiple weeks. Others continued operating in-person with strict social distancing measures in place, but several major differences stand out in this winter’s surge.
Over the last 18 months, schools have had the opportunity to invest pandemic relief money in greater PPE, improvements to air-handling systems and expanded coronavirus testing, leading most educators to grow more comfortable with in-person instruction where students do their best learning.
Schools now also have a major tool at their disposal that wasn’t available a year ago — vaccines. For the last 10 months, teachers and staff have had the opportunity to get vaccinated, and subsequently boosted, significantly decreasing their risk of contracting or becoming hospitalized with COVID-19.
However, youth vaccination rates following this year’s rollout of child immunizations, remain low. Across Indiana, 45% of 16- to 19-year-olds, 38% of 12- to 15-year-olds and 11% of 5- to 11-year-olds have been fully vaccinated, meaning they have received both doses of the two-shot immunization series or, for older teenagers, one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
And, health experts are still studying the effect of vaccines on the rapidly spreading omicron variant with the most recent data showing that boosters add protection. Many school-aged children, however, are not eligible for a booster. The FDA has only this week approved Pfizer’s booster shot for 12- to 15-year-olds.
Major school systems in Atlanta, Detroit, Newark and Philadelphia have announced periods of remote learning or delayed returns to school after increasing positivity rates in their communities.
Closer to Michiana, Hammond and Gary school districts returned from break with a week of virtual learning, affecting some 17,000 students across Northwest Indiana.
Hospital capacity in that region was among the lowest in the state last week with just 2.8% of intensive care unit beds available on Dec. 29, according to Indiana health department data.
The region, comprised of Indiana’s five northwestern most counties, totaled about 2,000 positive COVID-19 cases — a rate nearly double the area’s previous record — on Dec. 29, at the time school leaders were weighing next steps for students’ return to school.
The ISDH reported nearly 11,600 cases statewide on Dec. 29, shattering the state’s previous single-day record of 8,436 cases reported during last winter’s surge.
St. Joseph County reported 455 positive cases on Dec. 30 — the highest number of positive cases recorded in a single day in over a year and the second highest of the entire pandemic, according to state health department data.
The county had not recorded more than 200 cases in a single day since last spring until a new surge of predominantly delta-variant cases swept the state in late November.
More COVID cases expected in schools after break
Students in Penn-Harris-Madison and South Bend districts returned to class in-person on Monday.
Representatives for both districts say administrators have not discussed a pivot to virtual learning at this time, and students in the School City of Mishawaka are scheduled to return to class Thursday.
A Mishawaka spokeswoman told The Tribune in a text that the community can expect an update on the status of coronavirus mitigation strategies during a Wednesday night school board meeting.
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All three districts have seen hundreds of cases reported among students, teachers and staff this school year. With students just returning to school this week, P-H-M is the first of the three districts to share new data after winter break.
With 1,041 positive cases logged before the holidays, P-H-M has already surpassed in a single semester the total number of cases, 984, that the district recorded last school year.
On Monday night, Penn High School administrators emailed parents to notify them of 41 new positive cases among students and staff members, and to announce the postponement of the school’s Snowball winter formal, originally scheduled for Jan. 16.
More than 140 new cases have been identified among staff and students across the district since Christmas Day, according to an update of data available Tuesday.
P-H-M spokeswoman Lucha Ramey told The Tribune on Monday that while administrators are not discussing school closures, they will follow state law for reporting student absences of more than 20% to health officials, at which point, additional mitigation strategies could be considered.
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“It’s been our goal from the very beginning to keep children in schools,” Ramey said. “With e-learning models, it was very disruptive to staff and students alike.”
Ramey said the district will continue with its current measures, like mandatory indoor masking, to help reduce the number of close contacts required to quarantine.
NEA-South Bend president Linda Lucy, representing South Bend teachers, said schools, much like hospitals, could run up against staffing shortages and burnout if the demand on educators continues to grow.
Lucy is advocating that school leaders be flexible as they navigate the next couple of weeks predicted by some to be among the worst of the pandemic for hospitalizations and community transmission.
“It’s all going to come down to safety, accurate reporting and knowing where your thresholds are,” Lucy said. “We have e-learning plans in place. People are certainly used to it. They should be able to be exercised for any reason — for illness, for weather, for staff or for general safety.”
Student quarantine timelines may change
While no immediate shifts to virtual learning are being discussed in St. Joseph County, districts leaders’ next big decision will likely center on the length of student quarantine.
The CDC over winter break released a new set of quarantine and isolation guidelines for COVID-19 positive individuals and their close contacts.
In a news conference last week, State Health Commissioner Kristina Box said schools could expect new recommendations soon for school quarantine in line with updated guidance from the CDC.
The CDC now recommends five-day isolation, or longer if symptomatic, for anyone who tests positive for COVID-19. Vaccinated and boosted close contacts do not need to quarantine if asymptomatic, but should wear a mask consistently for 10 days after exposure and take a test on their fifth day.
South Bend and P-H-M schools have already adopted the new guidance and Mishawaka is likely to discuss it in the district’s Wednesday school board meeting.
Testing has been critical for schools looking to keep staffing levels afloat. Mishawaka and P-H-M have both offered COVID-19 testing within their districts in hopes of returning teachers and students to class more quickly.
New ISDH guidance: Students can return to school sooner after COVID-19 case
The Indiana State Department of Health announced on Tuesday that state and local health department locations would only offer rapid tests to those under 19 years old and to symptomatic individuals 50 years and older to help elongate the state’s supply of tests while keeping students in school.
While some parts of the state, like Central Indiana, have been crippled by shortages in at-home rapid COVID-19 tests, Ramey said P-H-M’s supply of BinaxNOW tests have remained steady.
“We recognize as (cases in the) community spread, there will be impacts on student attendance and staff attendance,” Ramey said. “Our goal is to keep students in school.”
Mishawaka’s school board meets at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the district’s administration center.
Email South Bend Tribune education reporter Carley Lanich at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @carleylanich.
