AUSTIN (KXAN) — It’s two weeks after Thanksgiving and many school districts are seeing spikes of COVID-19 exposures, just like health experts predicted.
It’s led to difficulty in contact tracing and staffing shortages as more employees are also forced to quarantine.
The Leander Independent School District, which has seen a significant jump in exposures, is asking families for compliance to get things back under control before winter break.
Over the two weeks since Thanksgiving, weekly exposures jumped from 259 to 732, representing a 183% increase.
“The health response protocols are essential to keep our schools open,” said Corey Ryan, the spokesperson for the district.
Some of the protocols he pointed out included staying home if you are home, wearing a mask, washing hands frequently and staying physically distant.
Ryan said closing schools were a last resort for the district, emphasizing socialization and in-person learning is helping students both mentally and academically. Ryan called the pandemic a mental health crisis in addition to being a health crisis.
“If you feel sick, if you feel symptomatic, please stay home so we can minimize the spread in school and keep people safe and healthy and keep our schools safe and open,” Ryan said.
Contact tracing has become increasingly difficult with such a large number of positive cases and potential exposures. Principals, assistant principals, school nurses and central office staff are responsible for making phone calls and tracking anyone who might have come in contact with COVID-19.
“This is a 24-hour job,” Ryan said, praising the diligence of district staff. “When we get a cases, they immediately start calling people, making phone calls.”
Leander ISD isn’t alone.
On Friday, Manor ISD confirmed two new cases in the district. One was a student at Manor Elementary Early Learning Center, the other was a bus driver, who came in contact with six other transportation employees.
Pflugerville ISD has approximately 15 teachers at Kelly Lane Middle School in quarantine, forcing all 6th and 7th graders at the school to work remotely from Dec. 7 to Dec. 11.
The rate of exposure is even higher at Pflugerville ISD. For the immediate week following Thanksgiving, exposures jumped from 92 to 471, representing a 412% increase.
District leaders say they are communicating weekly with parents and staff to remind them to physically distance, wear a mask and wash hands. The district also admits it has had trouble keeping up with contact tracing as each case requires a significant amount of time, which can delay communications to the greater public.
Austin ISD is praising its leadership for choosing to keep its students 100% virtual for the immediate week following Thanksgiving.
Superintendent Dr. Stephanie Elizalde said her decision to do so, despite it being “against the Texas Education Agency’s recommendation,” has proven to have stopped spreading from occurring within the hallways.
Elizalde pointed to the drive-thru rapid testing which the district offered students, staff and families for three days during that week. During that period, the district tested more than 1,700 people. Elizalde said 30 in-person staff and students returned positive results—these are people who may have come into the schools if classes remained in session, per normal.
“It was the right decisions for us to have kept our students in a remote setting for one week,” Elizalde told the AISD Board of Trustees on Monday. “I think that we have evidence that we have really mitigated any transmission on campus.”
For comparison purposes, on Friday, the Austin ISD dashboard reflected 187 current exposures. It’s important to note the dashboard does not reflect the entire week; district officials tell KXAN the dashboard gets reset on Tuesdays.
New TEA Guidance
The Texas Education Agency has released new guidance on when teachers are allowed to return to campus after testing positive for COVID-19 or having close contact with someone who tested positive.
If an employee tests positive and is experiencing symptoms, they can return 10 days after the onset of symptoms as long as at least a day has passed without fever, and they’ve seen an improvement in symptoms like cough and shortness of breath.
If an employee tests positive without symptoms, they should be absent for ten days after getting their positive result.
Finally—if an employee was exposed to someone who tested positive and isn’t experiencing symptoms, they can quarantine for 10 days without getting tested before coming back or come back on day seven after receiving a negative test result.
Reach KXAN’s Education Reporter Alex Caprariello by email at [email protected] or by phone at 512-703-5365, or find him on Twitter and Facebook.
