More Yakima Valley students and teachers could return to school in person next year, as schools elsewhere in the state look at the Yakima Valley as a model of how schools can operate safely in person.
A significant portion of Yakima County students are already back on campus, compared to many schools elsewhere in the state where planning for returns is just beginning.
But even as metrics for reopening have relaxed, community transmission has grown significantly. The local community will have to curtail the exponential spikes in COVID-19 in recent weeks before more students can return to their seats, as well as ensure that those already learning on campus can continue to do so.
Since schools statewide shuttered in mid-March as COVID-19 spread throughout the state, getting students back into school buildings has been of key concern to everyone, from business owners to teachers and parents.
State guidance in early August discouraged schools from returning students to in-person learning unless community transmission was relatively low. At the time, the state considered anything above 75 cases per 100,000 population over two weeks “high risk.” Yakima County had rates well above that. The guidelines weren’t legally binding.
In light of the recommendations, few schools statewide chose to open at the start of the school year. In Yakima County, private schools did. But all 15 public school districts kicked off the year with remote learning, with the expectation that small groups of high-needs students could come back in-person.
In late September, as cases in Yakima County were declining, the Yakima Health District gave the OK for schools to gradually begin reintroducing students to campus. Officials said students needed access to resources provided by schools, from social-emotional support to meals and education.
“Education is a key driver for health,” then-public health officer Dr. Teresa Everson said in a letter at the time. She said students needed to return to campus for their long-term well-being.
Around that same time, Yakima County met the 75-case per 100,000 population threshold for the first time, between Sept. 28-Oct. 11.
By mid-October, the majority of local school districts were returning elementary students to in-person learning. COVID precautions included parent questionnaires and temperature checks at school. Students wore masks throughout the school day, sat at desks spaced 6 feet apart, washed their hands and sanitized frequently. Some schools served meals at students’ desks, and students had personal supply kits, rather than sharing things like scissors or markers. Water fountains in hallways were taped off and hallways had tape and signs directing traffic.
The health guidance asked that school districts wait three weeks after elementary students’ return before sending middle school students back to campus, and another three weeks before high school.
Middle school students in many districts returned to buildings. But case counts began rising in Yakima County, and the local health district put high school plans on hold. Officials said they didn’t want to jeopardize the progress made with younger students.
Working well overall
Despite that, local health officials have since said in-person learning has been working well. Officials worked closely with schools on safety procedures and reporting protocol in the event of a confirmed case of COVID-19 on campus.
When cases were confirmed, they stepped in to contact trace, ensuring those who had been exposed could quarantine to avoid a big outbreak, said Brittany Morrison, lead and supervisor for the COVID-19 outbreak, response and investigative team at the Yakima Health District.
From August through Dec. 22, there have been 193 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on campuses countywide, according to health district data. The vast majority have been from community transmission. Just 10 were determined to have been contracted while in school buildings. All 10 of those were staff cases.
Morrison said social distancing was happening in classrooms, but not always in staff lunch rooms, for example. She said staff joined gatherings outside of work where they became exposed and brought it to campus. She said social distancing is the most important safety measure to keep students and staff in schools safe, and to prevent mass quarantining.
That’s because in the event of a positive COVID-19 case, only those who have been within 6 feet of the person for a collective of 15 minutes or more over 24 hours are considered at-risk and required to quarantine, she said.
Lilián Bravo, the health district’s spokeswoman, said continued improvement is needed to limit social gatherings.
Morrison also said that outbreaks — considered two or more linked cases — at local schools have been minimal. The most the health district has seen is clusters of two or three.
The push to reopen
While most local high school students remain in remote learning, most districts have returned elementary and middle school students to campus. Every school district in the county has experience returning some K-12 students to in-person learning. Some have handfuls of students on campus, while others have hundreds.
This isn’t true everywhere in the state. In mid-December, Gov. Jay Inslee said the state estimates just 15% of the state’s 1.2 million K-12 students were getting any in-person schooling.
But Inslee hopes to change that. Earlier this month, he raised the metrics for allowing students to return to campus and encouraged schools to do so, pointing to research that suggests schools don’t significantly contribute to transmission if stringent safety protocols are followed.
Under the new guidance, elementary and middle school students should be gradually reintroduced to in-person learning in communities where there are fewer than 350 cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 population over two weeks — a dramatic cushion from the previous 75 limit. If cases are below 200 per 100,000, high school students can be reintroduced, the guidance says.
“I think that’s really going to push toward hybrid (learning) at the middle and high school level,” said Kevin Chase, superintendent of Educational Service District 105, an agency that supports regional school districts.
Already, Chase said he has begun hearing from superintendents elsewhere in the state who want to visit local schools that have already reopened to learn how to do so safely.
“I didn’t really realize that on the west side, a lot of those districts hadn’t opened up at all,” Chase said, not even at the K-5 level.
“They’re asking to come look at our schools that have been open, their precautions, how they do it,” he said.
Bravo of the health district said one thing that contributed to Yakima County’s success with schools was its dedicated COVID-19 outbreak team. This team, which she said not all health districts have, enabled the health district to prevent large outbreaks in schools. Without that unit and the cooperation of school districts, Bravo said school reopenings might not have been so successful.
In terms of the new guidelines, they shouldn’t change much in Yakima County, Morrison said. The metrics are closely aligned with what local health officials have already been instructing schools to do, said Morrison. The main difference is having a clear goal of 200 local cases per 100,000 population over two weeks before returning high school students to campus, she said.
“It gave us something more concrete to go off of,” said Morrison.
There’s a long way to go, though. While Yakima County was once well within that limit, a spike in cases after Thanksgiving has led to the highest daily average case rate of COVID-19 and the highest hospitalization rate locally since the pandemic began.
As of last Wednesday, the county had 1,118 cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 population over the previous two weeks, according to Bravo.
Morrison encouraged community members to be diligent about safety precautions even if they’re not directly connected to schools.
“Social distance, wear a mask, things like that,” she said. “It’s everybody’s priority to make sure that kids are back in schools, and if we’re able to (lower) our community transmission then we’ll be able to keep them in schools and get high school kids back as well.”
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More students in Yakima Valley could return to classrooms, though high COVID transmission isn't helping - Yakima Herald-Republic
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