Schools pilot program may have area impact

It’s aimed at reducing number of quarantines within Ohio districts.

A test pilot program could potentially impact school districts in Clark and Champaign counties as cases and quarantines from the coronavirus increase.

Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine asked the Ohio Department of Health to work out the details for a pilot program proposed by Warren County school superintendents that would allow unvaccinated students exposed to coronavirus at schools without a mask mandate to remain in class.

The pilot program is in response to a request from Warren County’s 10 school superintendents to implement a program that would allow them to keep kids in school who may have been exposed to COVID-19 but are healthy and exhibit no symptoms.

Under ODH guidelines, students exposed to coronavirus should be required to be quarantined at home if they’re not vaccinated and their school doesn’t require face masks, social distancing and other COVID-19 prevention policies.

“If this is successful ... this will be something that we would hope we would roll out and make available for our other schools around the state of Ohio,” Dewine said during a press conference last week. “It’s one more effort, one more attempt to do everything we can to keep our kids in schools.”

School districts in Clark and Champaign counties are emphasizing mask use and implementing additional safety measures to keep kids learning in-person.

Almost all of the districts began this school year without requiring face masks for all students, except Springfield which requires them for all grades and Clark-shawnee which is temporarily requiring them for two weeks.

In total, 86 student and staff cases were reported at nine Clark and four Champaign county schools on Thursday for the week of Aug. 24-30, according to the

Ohio Department of Health’s school district dashboard.

In Warren County, school districts reported a total of 179 new student and staff cases for the same week, according to ODH.

The multi-tiered pilot program plan provides when an unvaccinated student, who is not wearing a mask, is identified as a close contact, the following three options would be given to families:

■ Traditional quarantine: Ten days at home or return to school on day seven with proof of a negative test result on day five, six, or seven.

■ Mandatory mask quar- antine: If the student is symp- tom-free, he/she is allowed to return to school wearing a mask for 10 days.

■ Modified mask and test- ing quarantine: If the student is symptom-free, they are allowed to return to school wearing a mask. On day five, they will have the option to take a rapid test at school. If the test results are nega- tive, they will continue to follow the current mask status for their specific school and grade level.

Maria Lewis, who has a kindergartner and sec- ond-grader in the Tecum- seh school district, said she thinks the pilot program is interesting.

“I look forward to seeing the results from the districts that are switching from traditional quarantine to this program,” she said. “An article I read about the pilot program mentioned that 80-85% of quarantined kids in that district never developed symptoms or tested posi- tive. That’s a pretty big number of kids missing school. I understand the precau- tion of quarantining, but I do think kids need to be in school and stay in their routine to be successful at school. The pilot program also keeps the decision making to the parents.”

Lewis added that there is an aspect of the program that she is hesitant about.

“One thing about the pilot program I’m hesitant about is allowing the school to do the testing. I would want to know more specific information about this, like what type of consent is required or if the parent can be present during the test, before I can say if I fully agree with that part of the program,” Lewis added.

Springfield City Schools, which started the academic year requiring masks for students in preschool through sixth grade, announced Thursday that the mask requirement would include students in seventh through 12th grade beginning today.

Officials in other districts in Clark and Champaign counties are pleading with everyone in their buildings to wear masks.

“While we have strongly encouraged masking, we do not see much masking in our schools. Therefore, we are now imploring everyone to please wear masks inside buildings so that we do not have to move to a mask man- date or completely virtual learning environment,” said Northeastern Local School District Superintendent John Kronour.

“We know that if we continue to see cases of COVID-19 within our buildings, even if those cases originate in our community and not in our schools, a mask mandate or some school closures are likely to occur. We intend to continue to provide face-toface, in-person instruction for our students and con- tinue to utilize the protocols we have in place, but again, we need the help of our students, parents and staff to achieve this,” Kronour added.

Kronour said the district is asking for help since posi- tive cases have doubled since they posted their dashboard on Aug. 27. He said the numbers continue to rise with 24 students positive and 210 students in quarantine.

Triad Local Schools is another district that is “pleading” with students to wear a mask.

“I’m just putting a plea out so ple se con ider asking your kid to wear a mask ... I want to keep our kids in school,” said Triad Local Schools Superintendent Vickie Hoffman. “Every day that they’re face-to-face is important. So when peo- ple ask things like, are we going to close down or anything like that, all I can say is, I now need your help. If you could please help us out, encourage your kids to wear a mask on the buses, encour- age them to wear mask in the classroom.”

If kid is wearing a mask, they won’t be or will less likely to be quarantined, Hoffman said. She said on Wednesday, kids at one build- ing heard that and they all went to the office wanting a mask.

“Talk to your kids about it, help them understand it. This is imply about having something that’s protecting kid to kid so we can try to keep everyone in school,” she said. “Our plan is not to close. We’re doing everything we can on our end to keep us in school, so unless we couldn’t staff the building, we plan to keep kids in person as much as possible.”

Global Impact STEM Academy is emphasizing mask wearing and putting additional measures in place to help limit the spread and need for quarantines.

“Although we are not putting in place a universal masking policy at this time, I am encouraging, once again, any staff member or student who is not vaccinated to consistently wear a mask,” Founding Director Joshua Jennings said. “We are also placing additional paper towels and cleaner in classrooms so that desks can be wiped down between each class change. Teachers will be arranging their rooms to utilize all available space. We have purchased a few portable air purifiers and plan on getting enough for each classroom to run during the school day.”

GISA has seven positive and 50 quarantined cases. Jennings said there were an additional 11 students

aaswho would have been sent home, but they were either vaccinated or consistently masked.

Brandi Davis, who has a child at Global Impact STEM Academy and Clark-shawnee, said she agrees with parents making the choice when it comes to masking.

“Parents know better than anyone what is best for their own children. I definitely think they need to rethink the current guidelines. It doesn’t make sense to quarantine kids who are asymptomatic. They lose so much by not being in the classroom. I am also very concerned about their mental well-being. My kids love school and want to be there. Making them stay home because they were around someone who was sick just doesn’t make sense,” she said.

South Korea’s daily increase in coronavirus infections has exceeded 1,000 for the 62nd consecutive day as officials are raising concerns about another viral spike during this month’s Chuseok holidays, the Korean version of Thanksgiving.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said more than 940 of the 1,375 new cases reported Monday were from Seoul and the nearby metropolitan region, where a rise in infections have been linked to the reopening of schools and people return- ing from summer vacations.

While the virus has slowed outside the capital area in recent weeks, KDCA official Kim Ki-nam said transmissions could worsen nation

Most of New Zealand will move out of lockdown today except for the largest city of Auckland, which will remain in the strictest type of lockdown until at least next week, the government announced Monday.

The nation has been battling an outbreak of the delta variant of the coronavirus since last month. All recent cases have been found in Auckland, including 20 that were found on Monday.

There have been a total of 821 cases found in the outbreak. The government is pursuing an unusual strategy of trying to eliminate the virus entirely.