Kelly Kenoyer
A change to school re-opening metrics announced Friday, Oct. 30, by Gov. Kate Brown has changed the landscape for Sweet Home School District officials.
The somewhat relaxed COVID-19 restrictions, which were effective immediately following the governor’s announcement, may allow younger students in Linn County to start in-person or hybrid learning as soon as next week.
The new coronavirus metrics allow a slightly higher case count for students returning to schools: on-site and distance learning now involves a 5-8% test positivity rate and 50 to 100 cases per 100,000 over the course of the previous 14 days. Linn County is very close to meeting those requirements, said Supt. Tom Yahraes.
On-site instruction for all students can now occur when there are fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 over a 14-day period. Linn County met those metric standards in late August and early September, but hasn’t met them since then. Statewide COVID metrics are no longer relevant to local-level school openings. All these changes make it significantly easier for schools to reopen, though there is still a relatively high bar.
Linn County’s case count for the two week period from Oct. 18 to 24 was 148, which is 117 cases per 100,000, and the test positivity rate was 6.5%. Linn needs to have 129 or fewer cases in a two week period to fall below the 100 cases per capita requirement.
Yahraes said the new numbers for this week are “prohibitive,” but “we’re very, very close.”
“What the governor has done has raised the metrics so it is achievable that we can get our students back in school.”
The announced changes apply the age-based separation in metrics to kindergarten through sixth-grade students, rather than just K through 3, and allows for older students to be added back if the transition to in-person learning goes well for lower grades.
“All of them have a pathway back that’s achievable, that’s close,” Yahraes said.
Previously, scientists believed the youngest children, those under 10, were less at risk of contracting and spreading the virus. That science has not held up over time, the governor noted, but the state is keeping separate standards for older children because cohorts are much easier to create and maintain for the youngest students, who tend to stick to one classroom and one teacher, State Epidemiologist Tom Jeanne said.
“Older students have a more personalized schedule that leads to more mixing between groups,” he added, and the youngest students have higher needs for in-person contact for their cognitive and emotional development. That’s why the requirements are still separated for the time being, though there’s also an easier path forward for older students if young students can successfully return to school without community spread.
The governor said the change would immediately qualify 130,000 students across the state for in-person instruction, though the majority of students are still required to stay home because of record-breaking COVID numbers across the state.
“Oregon’s cases are rising,” Brown said. “The second wave we’ve all been worried about is here.”
Oregon Department of Education Director Colt Gill said the new metrics set “reachable targets for counties to strive for.”
Indeed, the change to a 14-day period can help level out sudden outbreaks that are quickly controlled, and falls in line with how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counts COVID data.
“These metrics are set at a level Oregon has met in the past, and nearly every county has met in the past,” he said. “We’re asking every Oregonian to really think about the kids right now and their own behavior as it relates to COVID-19.”
Brown emphasized the need to wear masks, socially distance, and avoid in-person gatherings to prevent the spread of COVID and help students return to school. She also suggested Oregonians get flu shots to prevent “a double pandemic.”
The governor also noted that citizens concerned about possible violations of rules by schools should call an OSHA hotline.
Yahraes said the Sweet Home School District is still going over the new metrics to see what impact they’ll have, and that the primary concern is resetting schedules so there are enough buses when all students return.
“We need to go back and recalibrate everything. Some stuff is consistent, the cleaning protocols, the screening protocols. But transportation is the largest challenge initially.”
Yahraes expects to have more information on timelines for students returning by the next school board meeting, which is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 9 at 6:30 p.m.
The district does plan to continue with an online distance learning option for all grades so it can continue to serve families with students who need to stay home, either to protect family members with pre-existing conditions or to protect their grandparents in inter-generational homes.
Yahraes also emphasized the importance of cutting COVID transmission as much as possible to get the county metrics down.
“It’s incumbent upon us to do all we can to keep all our community members safe, so we can maintain the opportunity of having our students back in school,” he said.