Opening schools in fall ‘not safe,’ Pierce County health department tells superintendents
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department cautioned school districts against opening schools for in-person learning this fall.
Dr. Anthony Chen, the department’s director of health, issued a statement to superintendents on Thursday.
“Based on the COVID-19 disease activity in Pierce County and our region, I do not feel it is safe to open schools in September for traditional classroom learning,” Chen said.
Chen said returning for in-person learning could cause COVID-19 transmissions to rise, as it’s continued to for the past several weeks.
“While we have begun reopening businesses and resuming some activities, we are now seeing our case numbers skyrocket,” Chen wrote in a blog post on Thursday.
While COVID-19 is not thought to affect children as much as adults, Chen said, children add to the transmission of the disease.
“Reopening for in-person instruction can cause community transmission to increase and case numbers to grow. It can also put our education professionals and school support staff at risk,” he said.
Puyallup School District announced Thursday it would return to full-time remote learning this fall after recommendations from the health department.
“I acknowledge this decision is not ideal and will result in challenges for everyone, but we must prioritize the health and safety of students and staff based on the current guidance from our public health officials,” said Puyallup superintendent John Polm in a statement.
Sumner-Bonney Lake School District and University Place School District also announced Thursday evening it would move to full-time distance learning this fall, and KIRO-TV tweeted Steilacoom Historical School District announced to its staff it would open the fall in a remote learning program.
Seattle Public Schools superintendent Denise Juneau also recommended this week to return with full-time remorse learning, reversing an earlier decision for a hybrid model.
Chen added that the recommendation could change, depending on the spread of the virus, and that schools should still plan for onsite and hybrid models if the situation improves.
“In addition, representatives from Public Health Seattle King County, Snohomish Health District and Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department are working on an ethics consultation with Department of Health to help develop frameworks for decision making for schools. We may offer further guidance in the coming days as a result of this consultation,” Chen said.
This story was originally published July 23, 2020 at 6:53 PM.
