Johnson County officials: ‘We cannot open school’ unless COVID-19 cases start dropping
With Johnson County averaging more than 100 new COVID-19 cases a day, county health director Sanmi Areola said it is currently unsafe to open schools.
He said the next few weeks will be crucial in determining whether districts should allow students back into classrooms when the school year starts after Labor Day.
As of Thursday, the county had a 9.2% positivity rate — the percentage of positive coronavirus tests among those processed over the last 14 days. Areola said the county would ideally report a 5% rate before fully reopening schools.
“We cannot open schools if we are getting 100 cases a day. We cannot open school at 9% infection rate. We need to bring that down,” Areola said Thursday evening, during a Facebook live session with other health officials.
School district officials are expected to meet with the county health department the week of Aug. 17 to determine whether it is safe to reopen classrooms.
Earlier in the day, Areola warned the Johnson County Board of Commissioners during their weekly meeting that transmission of the virus is continuing to increase among younger people.
At Shawnee Mission East High School, for example, 14 student athletes tested positive for COVID-19. District spokesman David Smith said there is no “indication that their cases were related to sports, condition(ing) or other school-related activities.”
Areola said there have been other clusters of cases among youth.
“Just looking at the data and pulling out the number of cases linked to attending graduation parties, it’s a lot,” Areola said. “A lot of the cases are linked to graduation parties, house parties, some have been linked to sports in schools or conditioning programs in schools.”
As of Friday morning, Johnson County reported 4,869 coronavirus cases and 98 deaths. The highest number of cases — 1,229 — is reported among residents between the ages of 20 and 29. But the number of cases among teens and children under the age of 19 has been rising, with 744 confirmed cases in that group.
After weeks of skyrocketing new cases, Areola cautiously said that the number of new daily cases seems to be leveling off. He attributed that in part to residents abiding by the county’s mask mandate, but warned that the positivity rate is still among the highest throughout the entire pandemic. “We cannot stay up there,” he said.
“If we want schools to open in the least restrictive way possible, the time for us to act as a community is now. We need to work collectively to lower the level of transmission in the community,” Areola said. “This is not the time to host house parties. This is not the time to not wear masks. This is not the time to go to bars.”
The health official’s warning comes as parents enroll their students in Johnson County schools, and as districts consider whether to allow all students to return to class, move to online-only learning, or implement a hybrid of the two.
Parents who enroll their students in remote-only learning will be signing up for that option for the entire first semester. Students who agree to return to class could still face modified schedules and school closures.
“When we open school and there are more interactions, we expect there will be infections. There will be cases. So we have to be ready for that,” Areola said.
On Tuesday, the Johnson County Department of Health and Environment released guidance to school districts on how to determine when it is safe to bring students back to class. The majority of districts in the county — Blue Valley, Shawnee Mission, Olathe, De Soto and Gardner-Edgerton — all delayed the start of school until after Labor Day. The Spring Hill district will start school on Aug. 26.
It will be up to the districts to decide whether to reopen classrooms. But county health officials will make recommendations based on the level of community transmission of COVID-19.
The county’s guidance includes several reopening phases. If the county’s positivity rate is below 5%, then schools could operate in the “green” zone, with all students allowed to learn in-person, with social distancing and other precautions.
Right now, Johnson County is in the “yellow” zone based on the criteria. That means in the past 14 days, the county has seen a less than 10% positivity rate, as well as a steady or decreasing number of new cases. In that category, elementary students could learn in-person. But middle and high schoolers would be in a hybrid model, such as going to class for half of the week and learning online during the other half.
Most students would be guided to learn from home if the county’s positivity rate exceeds 10%.
Elementary students would be able to go to class until the transmission rate is 15% or higher. Elizabeth Holzschuh, county epidemiologist, said that decision was based on research showing younger students are less likely to transmit COVID-19 than older students.
The county’s guidance has led to criticism among some parents who worry that districts will open schools too early, putting the lives of students and staff at risk.
This story was originally published July 31, 2020 at 11:55 AM.
