Confusion reigns as schools open

For countless families across the country, the school year is opening in disarray and confusion.

Frightening calls from the school nurse. Waiting in vain for word from school officials. Canceled sports practices. Marching bands in quarantine.

For countless families across the country, the school year is opening in disarray and confusion, with coronavirus outbreaks triggering sudden closings, mass quarantines and deep anxiety among parents.

Schools in at least 10 states have had students and staff test positive for the virus since they began opening. The outbreaks have occurred in a variety of school settings: marching bands, high school football teams, elementary classrooms, high schools.

A Colorado high school shut down for two weeks after two students tested positive. Football teams in Utah canceled practices and games after several players came down with the virus. The entire football team and marching band in a small Alabama town were placed under quarantine because of exposure to the virus, the second time the team had to be quarantined this summer.

Michigan is reporting 14 outbreaks at schools. Mississippi started the week with about 2,000 students and 600 teachers in quarantine; the state has had 245 cases of coronavirus in teachers and about 200 in students since districts began returning to school in late July.

The K-12 clusters have mirrored the situation at colleges and universities that have had to shut down in-person learning and switch to virtual classes, albeit for different reasons. Many of the college outbreaks have been traced back to fraternity and sorority gatherings, crowded bars and a lack of masks and social distancing. Students around the country have been suspended for violating bans on campus parties and gatherings.

High school students have been flouting mask and social distancing rules as well.

The developments offer a glimpse into the future for schools around the country still deciding whether to return students to the classroom and weighing the risk of broader community infection if they reopen.

U.S. health officials on Friday released a study they said showed that the right measures can keep spread of the virus low in childcare centers.

The study looked for evidence of spread of the virus at 666 child-care programs in Rhode Island that were open last month. The state required centers to reduce the number of people in programs to no more than 20, including staff. It also required adults to wear masks at all times, daily symptom screening of children and adults, and enhanced cleaning and disinfection guidelines. The CDC does not currently recommend that universal symptom screenings be conducted by schools.

Nearly 19,000 kids attended. Investigators identified only 52 confirmed and probable cases, including 30 children and 22 adults. The children ranged from less than one year old to 12, with a median age of 5.

The CDC study does seem to show that day care centers and even schools can be reopened in some places, said Dr. Mike Saag, an infectious disease expert at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

But, he quickly added, that’s only in places where spread of the virus is low, and where schools and day care centers are able to do a lot of work to stay on top of new infections.

RICK BOWMER — ASSOCIATED PRESS Cimmie Hunter, left, and Cadence Ludlow, both 6th graders, arrive at Liberty Elementary School during the first day of class in Murray, Utah. For countless families across the country, the school year is opening in disarray and confusion.