State says in-person classes OK for all
Schools can have students learning at least partially in-person no matter how bad the COVID-19 situation is in their community, new state guidance says.
The state departments of health and education on Monday issued new recommendations that say even when a county is in the worst category of risk of community spread of COVID-19 — as Berks County is — a hybrid model that mixes in-person and virtual learning can be used safely.
Previous guidance recommended that only elementary schools use hybrid systems in counties with a substantial risk of community spread, with older students learning remotely.
Community spread means people have been infected with the
virus in an area, including some who are not sure how or where they became infected.
“We remain committed to doing everything we can to create the conditions for a return to inperson instruction as soon as safely possible,” Acting Secretary of Education Noe Ortega said in a statement announcing the change. “Our updated instructional model recommendations create additional flexibilities for school leaders to make decisions at the local level consistent with best practices and with public health and safety at the forefront.”
Since the start of the school year, the state has been rating the risk of community spread of COVID-19
in counties and each week placing counties in one of three categories: low risk, moderate risk or substantial risk. The categories are based on the COVID-19 incident rate and percent positivity.
The incident rate is how many people out of 100,000 have tested positive for the disease over the past seven days. The percent positivity is the percentage of people tested over a seven-day span that test positive.
The metrics for each risk category are:
• Low: An incident rate of less than 10 per 100,000 residents over the past seven days and a seven-day positivity rate less than 5%.
• Moderate: An incident rate of 10 to 100 per 100,000 residents over the past seven days or a sevenday positivity rate of 5% to 10%.
• Substantial: An incident rate of greater than 100 per 100,000 residents over the past seven days or a seven-day positivity rate greater than 10%.
Berks is one of 45 counties in the substantial risk category. Seventeen counties are in the moderate risk category, and five are rated as low risk.
At the start of the school year, fully virtual learning was recommended for all students when a county fell into the substantial risk category. That was later amended to allow for elementary students
to take part in a hybrid system in counties in the most severe category.
With Monday’s announcement, hybrid systems can now be used for all students.
The updated rubric also allows for all students to learn fully in-person in counties with moderate risk. The previous recommendations were for elementary students in moderate-risk counties to learn fully in-person and older students to use a hybrid model.
The new guidance from the state is merely a suggestion, with school districts not bound to follow it.
Acting Department of Health Secretary Alison Beam said whether schools welcome students for inperson classes remains a local choice.
“A safe return to in-person instruction will look
different across every school, district and county depending on a variety of factors, one of which is the spread of COVID-19 within these communities,” she said.
A statement announcing the new guidance said that how schools operate will continue to depend on local factors such as the size of the school building, classroom size, resources, proportion of staff and students with special needs and underlying health conditions and the ability to accommodate learning with equal access for all students.
“The Wolf administration continues to maintain that local school leaders are best positioned to make instructional decisions for their communities that account for the county level transmission metrics and other local factors,” the statement said.