Threshold for reopening WA schools could be lowered significantly, draft plan shows
Washington officials are considering updates to the state’s plan for reopening schools amid COVID-19 that would loosen regulations, according to a Department of Health presentation first reported by The Seattle Times on Tuesday.
The presentation, dated Nov. 6 as a briefing for Gov. Jay Inslee, shows a draft update to the state’s Decision Tree, which acts as a guide for local health jurisdictions and schools districts in determining whether to return to school face-to-face or remain in remote learning.
The guidelines, while not legally binding, currently recommend schools within counties that have 75 or more COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people over a 14-day period stay in remote learning. The draft update in the Nov. 6 presentation changes that to 200 cases per 100,000 people.
Below 200 cases per 100,000 people, counties could begin phasing into in-person learning starting with elementary-aged students, then middle and high school, according to the draft updates.
According to the Seattle Times’ Dahlia Bazzaz and Hannah Furfaro, the changes would allow the number of school districts that could return for in-person learning to jump from 32 to 150, out of about 300 school districts statewide.
A spokesperson for the state Department of Health told The Seattle Times that the proposed updates are still under review and “there is no timeline for releasing any updates to the school decision tree.”
The Department of Health presentation states that “emerging evidence suggests that with reasonable precautions, schools are not significant drivers of transmission,” citing studies from the Institute for Disease Modeling.
The presentation also outlines school-based testing pilots at schools across the state. Peninsula School District in Pierce County is one of them, with the district already opening schools for in-person learning for younger grades.
Even if the new guidelines were implemented, schools in the Central Puget Sound region, including in Pierce County, still would be recommended for remote learning. As of Tuesday, the county’s 14-day case rate per 100,000 people is 382.7, well above 200 cases per 100,000 people.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department’s COVID-19 metrics for schools, which has a 6-day data lag for accuracy, shows 306.2 cases per 100,000 people in a 14-day period.
Washington state’s COVID-19 cases have increased in recent weeks. As of Tuesday, the Washington state Department of Health reported a record high 3,482 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 35 deaths. Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 151,019 cases and 2,690 deaths.
This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 5:17 PM with the headline "Threshold for reopening WA schools could be lowered significantly, draft plan shows."
