LAWRENCE, Kan. (WIBW) - Lawrence is now in the Green phase of its Smart and Safe School Reopening guidance.
Lawrence-Douglas County Public health says it has moved its recommendation for the COVID-19 Smart and Safe School Reopening Guidance to the Green phase as metrics continue to improve. It said on Thursday, its positivity rate was 4.6% and the county’s 14-day moving average of new cases per day continues to trend downward, as it has since August.
According to LDCPH, the Green phase recommends in-person or hybrid classroom instruction and standard mitigation for activities. It said the county’s guidance had been in phase Yellow since late August after spikes in the number of new cases per day and the county’s positivity rate increased to over 9%, following the University of Kansas entry testing.
“We are grateful that our numbers have continued to trend in a positive direction, which is indicative of the effectiveness of the measures we’ve taken and how our community members have done a great job with masking up and following guidance,” said Dr. Thomas Marcellino, Douglas County’s Local Health Officer. “We developed these guidelines based on the best scientific and medical advice we have to recommend safe environments for our schools. As a community, we also recognize the educational, psychosocial and mental health benefits to students in being able to get them into classroom environments if it is safe. The community has really stepped up to help get us back to Green. We are grateful for that and, we are asking people to keep it up so we can stay in this phase.”
LDCPH said the guidance and phased recommendation tool are designed to help public schools and parents make decisions on when to offer in-person classes and when to institute mitigation practices. It said the criteria are based on public health metrics. It said it also includes a metric based on the level of absenteeism and staffing ratios that schools use to guide their decisions.
According to LDCPH, Douglas Co. uses a 14-day moving average to decide the rate of new cases per day in the community, while the Kansas Department of Health and Environment school gating criteria uses a two-week cumulative incidence rate of the number of new cases for that period per 100,000 people.
“We’re using a two-week block that moves along with us, and so that gives us a more up-to-date idea of how things are going, and it allows us to see trends better or sooner,” said Dr. Jennifer Schrimsher, an infectious disease specialist at LMH Health and member of the Douglas County Unified Command Safety Team who helped develop the school guidance.
LDCPH said the recommended phase moved from Yellow to Green on Thursday, as it updates its recommendation each Thursday.
For more information on Douglas Co. health guidelines, click here.
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October 23, 2020 at 03:25AM
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Lawrence moves into Green phase of Smart and Safe School Reopening guidance - WIBW
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