Health officials will work with districts as students return to class

Both superintendents noted the often changing, sometimes confusing criteria associated with COVID-19 and limitations on what school districts can do.

Combs, responding to a question from Hance about the ability to quarantine students who test positive, said the health department staff is recommending school districts have strong policies in place to specify what a district will do if a parent insists their child will come to school.

“That gives you a little more leverage, so parents know what to expect,” Combs said, of a recommendation she has made to all superintendents in Southwest Oklahoma.

Hime and Hance said their districts will strongly recommend masks, because a state law forbids districts from mandating them.

“Short of the governor declaring a state of emergency, we’re gonna have a hard time requiring a mask,” Hime said. “But, if you want to wear one, wear one. If this variant (the Delta variant of COVID-19) keeps on, we’ll recommend them.”

Hime said school administrators also will continue to keep school water filling stations full, meaning students can fill personal containers for water consumption rather than using communal water fountains. They also will keep hand sanitation stations in place and encourage social distancing, what he calls “best practices.”

Hance said Cache Public Schools also will continue to encourage social distancing while adhering to cleaning protocols, to include reinforcement of a strong hand washing protocol. And, parents will be encouraged to keep their children at home if they have any type of symptoms of illness.

“That’s what we’re going to work on,” Hance said.

Hime said his district already has proof that technique worked: incidents of things such as the flu and stomach viruses were down among students and staff last school year.

“Even the common cold was almost non-existent,” he said, adding the district’s virtual program helped because students who stayed home sick wouldn’t be counted absent if they got online and completed their homework assignments. “That’s where virtual helps our parents.”

Hance said students will be encouraged to be tested for symptoms that may fall into the COVID-19 category, which may include those associated with allergies.

“A lot of symptoms we have are allergy related,” he said. “If you think is allergies, we urge you to check it out.”

Both superintendents said state law does not allow districts to require eligible students to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Combs said for those students who do receive the vaccine, evidence will be available on their immunization cards, information accessible by school districts because it contains other childhood vaccination information.

“I think we’ll see more parents wanting their kids vaccinated,” Hance said.

Combs said only the Pfizer vaccine has been approved for those under age 18, and some planning is needed for parents planning to have their children immunized. There is a three-week delay between the first and second dose of the Pfizer vaccine, and the vaccine doesn’t go into full effect until two weeks after the second dose, she said.

Combs said while incidents of COVID-19 are increasing (about 400 a week in Comanche County), “we’re not seeing those testing numbers come up,” she said, of the correlation seen in 2020 between higher COVID-19 infections and residents being tested. This time last year the health department was doing 100 tests a day. This year, they are doing about 40.

“They’re not getting tested as often as they did last year,” she said, adding there are definite effects associated with increasing numbers. “The more cases we have in our community, the more community spread. The more community spread, the more opportunity for the virus to change and have different variants.”

She said the fear is that today’s vaccines were not created for those variants and while vaccines are holding up to the Delta variant, that might not be true of new variants.