Elementary schools could open this month for in-person learning, health department says
Students in elementary school could return for in-person learning as early as this month, according to Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department officials.
“We anticipate schools will be able to partially reopen in September starting with elementary schools,” health department deputy director Nancy Sutton said at a Board of Health meeting Wednesday.
The announcement was in response to a recent decline in 14-day COVID-19 cases counts in Pierce County.
Pierce County’s current 14-day case rate is at 80 cases per 100,000 people, according to the department’s Schools Safe Start Metrics dashboard. It measures for the 14-day period of Aug. 12-26.
The data lags 6 days to ensure accuracy as recommended by the state, the department said. Without the 6-day reporting lag, the rate would be 67.2 cases per 100,000 people.
With the 6-day lag, the 80 cases per 100,000 people still puts Pierce County in the high-risk category at more than 75 cases per 1000,000 people, according to the state’s “decision tree” for in-person learning.
High-risk counties are recommended for remote learning, with the option for limited in-person learning in small groups for high-risk students, such as students with disabilities or students living homeless, and younger students.
In this case,“younger students” are those in grades K-5, the health department said in a blog post on Tuesday.
At fewer than 75 cases and more than 25 cases per 100,000 people, counties move into “moderate” risk, which encourages in-person learning for elementary-aged students.
The 14-day case counts are continuing to drop, Sutton said.
“We anticipate that we will be entering the moderate disease rate very soon,” she said.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department plans to meet again with school officials Thursday to discuss gradual reopening of schools.
