Area schools dealing with surge in COVID-19 cases

Inside the walls of many local schools, an increasing number of students have been missing from their seats.

Public Health – Idaho North Central District reported 54 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday across the Nez Perce, Latah, Clearwater, Idaho and Lewis counties. Of these, nearly 20 percent involve 5- to 17-year-olds.

The region also added two more deaths from the virus — a woman in her 60s from Idaho County and a woman in her 80s from Nez Perce County — for a total of 15 deaths reported in just the last three days.

At the Lewiston School District, virus cases are racking up far quicker than they did one year ago. Since Tuesday, 48 cases among students and staff are considered “active,” indicating new and previously reported cases that are still infectious. Lewiston High School claims a large portion of those, with 18 active cases. These individuals have not returned to school.

Superintendent Lance Hansen hasn’t included the total number of students and staff who’ve tested positive since the start of the school year, but based on recent communications, the Tribune estimates it’s at least 55.

Last year, it wasn’t until November before the school district saw that many cases.

Former Superintendent Bob Donaldson implemented a temporary mask mandate in mid-October that applied to all middle school students when 11 students or staff tested positive. Just weeks later, a total of 60 cases were recorded, 43 of which were marked active, and a districtwide face covering requirement was announced.

The district doesn’t have a mask mandate in place currently.

At a school board meeting Monday evening, a Jenifer Middle School science teacher spoke out about a lack of social distancing and available personal protective equipment like masks across school district buildings. The former Webster Elementary School principal, Alex Church, also said some of his seventh grade students are at home isolating and missing valuable instruction time because of COVID-19.

“I’ve had multiple students who are already on what they call ‘extended absences,’ ” Church said during a public comment period. “Trying to catch a student who is gone for 5-10 days is nearly impossible. In many cases, we just have to write off the learning and move on to the next standard.”

Those who test positive must be quarantined for 10 days, keeping students out of the classroom for weeks when virtual learning at most schools is not an option.

Among students and staff at the Clarkston School District, where a statewide mask mandate is in effect, there are 27 active cases of the virus. Executive Assistant to the Superintendent Keri Myklebust said she didn’t know the total number of positive cases since the school year began, but noted the local health district is tracking that information and performing contact tracing.

A spokesperson for the health district could not immediately be reached for comment.

The director of health services in the school district, Donna Franklin, says the quarantine time frame begins when symptoms do. Still, students who tested positive a few weeks ago have just started to return.

“If someone can definitively say when their symptoms started, we can start counting their isolation from that point,” she said. “They’re not necessarily out of school for 10 days, especially if you count weekends in there.”

While the school system in Lewiston is now informing students, parents and staff of new positive cases on a daily basis, Clarkston’s school district has yet to do the same.

However, the school district is encouraging all mitigation strategies recommended by the Asotin County Health District, including masks, social distancing and vaccination, according to Franklin. But that doesn’t prevent students from contracting the virus after school hours.

She suspects they might even pick it up at the grocery store or gas station.

“We’ve had a fair number of students who have either tested positive or had to be quarantined because of close contact exposure,” Franklin said. “But we’re working quickly to bring students back to school in the safest way possible.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends universal indoor mask wearing and at least 3 feet of physical distance between students within classrooms to reduce transmission risk. It also cites vaccination as the leading public health prevention strategy for ending the pandemic, and says encouraging it can help schools safely return to in-person learning, as well as extracurricular activities and sports.

Multiple classrooms are closed in the Kamiah School District and many students are quarantining until Sept. 21, according to a recent update on its website. Teachers are currently contacting students remotely for learning activities.

At the Lapwai School District, where a mask mandate in all buildings is in effect, administrators are working with Nimiipuu Health and the regional health department to track cases. Superintendent David Aiken said they’ve seen a few positives, but nothing they’d call a spike.

He directed questions about specific numbers to public health.

“We haven’t had any more cases than we’ve become accustomed to,” Aiken said. “That’s primarily because masks have been a barrier to transmission.”

Friday will mark the end of Lapwai’s third week of class, and an update indicating the current status of COVID-19 in school buildings will be posted to its website. According to Aiken, current safety protocols will be evaluated again after the next three-week period.

For now, he expects the mask mandate and other safety measures to continue.

Health officials in north central Idaho and southeastern Washington reported 89 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday.

The cases include 18 in both Nez Perce and Asotin counties, 16 in Latah County, 13 in Whitman County, 11 in Clearwater County, seven in Lewis County, four in Garfield County and two in Idaho County.

Palermo may be contacted at apalermo@lmtribune.com. Follow her on Twitter @apalermotweets.