What happens when someone gets COVID-19 at school? Here’s what districts are planning
While many Kansas City area school districts prepare to reopen for in-person classes, the question continues to surface: What happens if a student or teacher has COVID-19?
Does the entire school shut down? Just one classroom? The answer, officials are coming to realize, can be murky.
How districts will respond is an “evolving part of the plan,” said Frank Harwood, superintendent of the De Soto school district in Johnson County, who helped develop the state of Kansas’ guidance for schools.
“In most cases, we have plans in place where we wouldn’t have to close an entire building for a single positive case,” he said. “But we also know at some point we might come to a decision where a particular building should close to not risk further exposure in the community.”
“As frustrating as it is for families, educators and all of us, a little bit of the answer is that it depends. And it depends on the level of exposure.”
But for now, officials are sure of this, as expressed in the Park Hill school district reopening plan:
“We will ask everyone who is directly exposed to stay at home for 14 days.”
The major school districts in Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas and some on the Missouri side are delaying the start of school until after Labor Day, hoping a recent spike in COVID-19 cases will recede.
Kansas City and Kansas City, Kansas, school officials took the extra step of offering classes online only for awhile. But most other districts are looking to bring students and staff back into school buildings — with families having the option of keeping their kids home for online learning.
Isolating a classroom or sections of a building in the event of a COVID-19 case instead of closing an entire building may not sit well with teachers, said Todd Fuller, spokesman for the Missouri State Teachers Association. “I would think that would make not just teachers but everyone in the building more concerned.”
He said many teachers are already nervous about safety. “I would think having people coming back into a place where someone who tested positive for COVID-19 had been would be distracting from the learning process for everyone,” Fuller said. “And I can’t imagine a parent would feel comfortable with that either.”
A recently released survey of teens ages 13-17, done earlier this month by Junior Achievement, found that among 1,000 respondents nationally, 66% said they are concerned about attending school in-person for the fall semester. And 47% said they are worried that they or a member of their family will get sick with COVID-19.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson fully expects it: “There is a very real possibility that there could be COVID in our schools, and we want to be prepared for that,” he said last week.
The state of Kansas and some Missouri school districts have issued detailed plans for what to do in the event of a COVID-19 case.
Kansas City Health Director Rex Archer, who last week recommended delaying opening schools until after Labor Day, said parents should expect that a positive case of COVID-19 could shut down a classroom, section of a school or even the entire building.
Archer said a student or adult showing symptoms would be immediately sent home, and would need to be tested. If the test came back positive, health officials would be notified and contact tracers would attempt to determine who else in the building might have been exposed.
In their plan for the school year, North Kansas City school officials expect challenges through the fall and winter since “COVID-19 symptoms may be similar to cold and flu symptoms,” a district statement said. The district is among those that released detailed steps in the event of a coronavirus case.
If a school nurse suspects COVID-19, the plan says:
▪ The student or staff will be separated from other students.
▪ Parent will be contacted immediately to pick child up from school.
▪ Siblings or others living in the same household as that child or staff member and attending NKC Schools will also be screened.
▪ Information about testing locations will be provided to the family.
▪ The individual and family members will be asked not to return to any district buildings until 72 hours have passed without fever and 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared or until cleared by a doctor.
▪ All staff and students who’ve spent longer than 10 minutes within a 6-foot radius with the individual will be identified and asked not to return to campus for 14 days.
Missouri education leaders have issued guidelines on social distancing and disinfecting but said they’re still working on statewide strategies for how to isolate symptomatic students or staff members at school, how to handle COVID-19 cases and how to assist local health officials with contact tracing.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly last week ordered that schools implement safety precautions, including everyone wearing masks and having their temperature taken before they enter school each day. In addition, anyone who tests positive for the virus must remain in isolation, and their contacts must quarantine for 14 days, according to state guidance.
In the event of a COVID-19 case, officials may close school buildings for several days, or section off rooms for thorough cleaning. County health departments are expected to help schools with contact tracing and determining when it is appropriate to close buildings, based on the number of coronavirus cases in the community.
Despite all the safety plans, districts said if virus cases continue to increase, students who are returning to in-person classes could end up returning to online learning at home and schools would close.
This story was originally published July 29, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
