The New Research and Mitigations Supporting Opening District 65 Schools for In-Person Learning - Evanston RoundTable

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On January 28, the district 65 administrators gave a 75-minute speech, summarizing their plan to open the school for face-to-face learning from February 16. Several doctors in the recently formed medical advisory group also talked about their latest research results. Some people said that if you need to wear a mask and other mitigation measures have been taken, it is safe to open a school for face-to-face learning. The administrator discussed the mitigation measures being used. The presentation can be zoomed and displayed and can be broadcast live on the school district’s You Tube channel.

On January 20, District 65 District Mayor Devon Horton (Devon Horton) announced that the school will open a mixed-mode in-person learning course on February 16.

Under this model, all students will participate in distance learning throughout the study day on Monday. For Tuesday to Friday, the model provides:

·K-5 students whose parents express their willingness to participate in face-to-face learning will participate in face-to-face half-day classes in the morning or afternoon from Tuesday to Friday. They will participate in the remaining teaching days of remote synchronous and asynchronous learning (including math and literacy exercises, sports, fine arts, and science/social studies).

· If K-5 students have three priority marks, they will conduct face-to-face learning throughout the day, face-to-face learning in the morning, and asynchronous learning instruction in the afternoon from Tuesday to Friday.

· Students in grades 6-8 with one or more priority marks will have full-day face-to-face learning from Tuesday to Friday. The family members indicated that they prefer distance learning or students who do not have any priority marks will do distance learning.

There are some changes in middle school.

 Dr. Horton said that 3,618 students will return to face-to-face learning. 3697 students will continue distance learning. He said that the way of learning depends to the greatest extent on the choice of parents.

He said that due to capacity building and the need to persist in social distancing, the number of students who can return to face-to-face learning is limited. He said the school district prioritizes the return of students under the guidelines of the Illinois Board of Education. The guide prioritizes students who are eligible for free and reduced lunches, bilingual and bilingual students, students who are considered homeless under McKinney Vento, and students who have an IEP or 504 section plan.

Dr. Horton said: "As the epidemic changes, I want to reiterate the scientific basis of this epidemic. We have made better decisions and stronger decisions in our work to reopen schools safely. About "Why don't we do this in the fall? "There are many problems. We don't have much science to adapt to."

He said that the school district has been able to better understand the scientific knowledge related to the opening of schools for face-to-face learning, “because now we have a medical consultation group; I just want to say that we held it in January.” He added: “Last year 12 In August, the original communication led by Dr. Wild is important, it extends the olive branch."

Dr. Horton said that the medical advisory team is composed of “a diverse team of medical experts representing different disciplines who work in and outside the community and all have first-hand COVID-19 experience,” he added, adding that the advisory team also includes union leaders , School district administrators and parents.

Dr. Horton said that the advisory team did not make a decision that the school district will resume in-person learning. "This is a decision made by the government, myself, my team and our school board.

"I want to make sure to maintain clarity as we move forward. They (the medical advisory group) are our partners, and they have provided us with the research and knowledge we need to open our doors, and ongoing cooperation is ongoing. It is very important to monitor local and regional health, mitigation plans, and vaccine awareness. In addition, there is more support."

Dr. David Soglin, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Rabida Children’s Hospital, and member of the Regional Medical Advisory Group, said: “First, we will follow, and you will follow all the mitigation measures instructed by the state. If the test positive rate (usually at 7 consecutive days) Rolling average measurement) (so that a peak cannot determine the action) reaches 12% or higher in our area (District 10 [Suburban Cook County]), enter the third phase of mitigation measures according to the national order. This will require adaptation Sexual pause, and need to return to distance learning.

"We will also consider more local indicators, including our attendance area, especially recommendations from the Evanston, Department of Health and Human Services. Then, if the spread of the community is so wide that it is impossible to conduct personal learning , Then this will obviously also have an impact and reduce access to key personal protective equipment and other problems that may arise.

"As Dr. Horton said, this is an incredible year of learning for our medicine and school system."

Dr. Soglin showed several graphs showing the trend of new COVID-19 cases in Cook County and Illinois, and said: “The new cases in Illinois and the new cases in Cook County are both trending downwards-both In the right direction. Both of them are still high. They are higher than the spring when we first learned about COVID-19. Therefore, the fact that they are falling is important, but it does not mean that we can stop wearing masks or stop alienating. Or other mitigation techniques we have been using so far."

Dr. Thorglin also said that the positive rate of tests in the suburban Cook County "has dropped well. We are far below the 12% that slowed us down."

He pointed out that the test positive rate in the suburbs of Cook is now less than 8%, "Although we still face a huge burden of COVID, we are moving in the right direction."

Dr. Thorglin discussed two recent studies. He said: "I think that at the beginning of the pandemic, we were very worried that just bringing people together in school would increase the spread of the community." "In the past year, we have learned a lot in the United States and internationally. ."

Dr. Thorglin showed a

, "Factors associated with positive SARS-CoV-2 test results in outpatient medical facilities and emergency departments in children and adolescents under the age of 18 in Mississippi." The graph is as follows.

Dr. Thorglin said: "The first picture reflects COVID cases in children and adolescents under the age of 18 in Mississippi."

This graph illustrates the risk of COVID-19 if a person under 18 participates in 12 different types of activities. He said that the center vertical line is an "even mark." If the activity described has a blue horizontal line on the right side of the vertical line, it indicates that participating in the activity will bring a greater risk of contracting COVID-19. If the activity has a horizontal blue line to the left of the vertical line, it means that the risk of contracting COVID-19 is small. Anything that crosses the vertical line means that the risk is roughly the same.

Dr. Thorglin said that when looking at the horizontal blue line completely on the right side of the line, “if you are in close contact with someone with COVID-19, your risk of COVID-19 will be greatly increased. Similarly, attend social gatherings, For example, weddings, funerals or holiday parties, or even participating in children’s social gatherings, such as entertainment activities, will put you at greater risk, just like having visitors at home.

Dr. Soglin said: "What's really interesting is that it can protect you from COVID." He said that if a child under 18 is in a school with a mask, this will not increase the risk of COVID-19. Spread, but it will decrease. "It can protect children living in schools where people wear masks. Even any school is neutral, which is above that line. But in schools where people are required to wear masks in the 65 state plan, it can actually be Protect children from contracting COVID," he said.

Dr. Thorglin mentioned

Visited 17 schools in a rural school district in Wisconsin. The figure is reproduced below.

 Dr. Thorglin said that the chart shows that even in communities with a high test positive rate (up to about 40%), there are many new cases per 100,000 population (up to 1,200 per 100,000 population), and COVID-19 is spreading in schools. The number of cases is "very small,...almost none." He said, "Although it is spread widely in the community, there are almost none."

The dotted line at the bottom of the chart represents the number of COVID-19 cases attributed to school transmission.

Dr. Thorglin said that 92% of students in these 17 schools wear masks. The school has student pods; the staff try to keep a distance of six feet; and the school has good contact tracking and isolation after contact.

He said that during the 13-week face-to-face learning, “out of approximately 5,000 students, there were 7 COVID cases among students, and there were no COVID cases among employees studying at the school.”

The second chart below illustrates that the number of new COVID cases attributed to school is very low. The barely visible line along the bottom horizontal line of the chart shows Covid cases attributed to school.

Sharon M. Robinson, a NorthShore University Health System Primary Care Physician and MD of District 65 parents, said: “We know that as long as mitigation strategies are adopted, no matter what measures the community adopts, schools can successfully conduct face-to-face learning. In place and stratified. .

"And I want to reiterate that there is too much data to support this recently, which is convincing."

Dr. Robinson said that 65 districts are "taking tiered mitigation measures," divided into three levels.

Dr. Robinson said: “These are the most important things we must do to ensure the safety of everyone and keep the school running.” They include masks, hand hygiene and distance. Dr. Robinson said: “Especially in Evanston, we proved that we know how to protect ourselves. We know how to wear masks over two years of age. We need to maintain good hand hygiene; we practice social distancing. Therefore, if You only do those things, and you do those things alone, you have a great opportunity to ensure the safety of everyone."

"The most important thing is that you divide the hierarchy into two levels," Dr. Robinson said. This includes "symptom screening, cohort studies or putting students in pods, which is also what District 65 does."

: Dr. Robinson said that the third level is an "extra level of protection." "Similarly, the 65th area has surpassed other areas. As you can see, their cleanliness, ventilation system and contact tracking have been enhanced."

 Dr. Robinson added: “In addition to our masks, hand hygiene, and social distancing, you will hear me say over and over again that we do outside the school environment. We as parents, children and employees do it outside of school. Things will determine how we can safely rejoin face-to-face learning."

Dr. Robinson also talked about vaccines. "I know that there are new variants of the COVID-19 virus, and people are worried about the efficacy of the vaccines. We do know that these vaccines are still effective against these variants. We just don’t know if they are as effective against the original virus strains, which are about It is 94% to 95%.

"But this is why we still have to cover up our masks, hand hygiene and social distance are so important."

Bridget Wild, a physician at North Shore University Health System Pediatrics Hospital, North Shore University Health System Child Protection Committee Chairperson Bridget Wild, and a 65-year-old parent said: "I am very happy and said that we are very Thanks to the vaccine’s effectiveness over 90%. However, the mitigation strategies implemented in schools in District 65 are also effective in mitigating risks by over 90%.

"Therefore, regardless of people's vaccination status, we cannot fully reiterate the importance of insisting on using masks and hand sanitizers and adopting such layered safety measures."

The District 65 administrator summarized how the mixed teaching plan works. Terrence Little, the deputy dean of the secondary school, said that, for example, in secondary schools, students who participate in the remote learning mode at home will see real-time teaching content delivered to students who participate in in-person learning at the school.

The administrator also summarized the school district’s plan to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection in schools. Some operations are summarized below.

. Parents will be required to fill in and email daily health certificates for students. As part of self-certification, parents must keep the student's body temperature below 100.4 degrees. Teachers and other basic workers must also fill out a self-certification form every day. Students must enter the school through a designated entrance.

: Before the student gets on the bus, the student’s parents must submit a daily health certificate. Before boarding the bus, students will have their temperature checked by an assistant. The bus will run at approximately half of its capacity, which will promote social distancing on the bus. Students will have allocated seats. Every bus will be supervised by a bus assistant.

. Students must wear a mask at all times except when eating. Encourage students to wear extra masks every day. If students need masks, the school district will provide them.  

: The number of students in each classroom will be reduced to achieve social distancing. The desks are positioned so that the distance between students is six feet; and the floor is marked as desk. Plexiglas partitions are installed on the table. In order to maximize the use of classroom space, furniture that is not needed for teaching purposes has been removed.  

The corridors are marked to help maintain social distancing. Will not use lockers. In the restroom, alternate sinks and compartments are closed. When it is not possible to wear a mask (such as when eating), strict social distancing will be strengthened.

: The students will be kept in the same classroom and the teacher will switch from one class to the next as needed. Students who eat lunch at school will eat in the classroom.

: Will increase the cleaning of toilets and frequently touched spaces, such as door handles, light switches, railings, sinks, countertops, etc. The school district will use static electricity to clean toilets, carpets and other surfaces. Disinfectants will be provided in all classrooms to be used as needed. Hand disinfection stations will be set up throughout the school.

: Chief Financial and Operations Officer Raphael Obafemi said that the area has spent a lot of time on ventilation and upgrading air filters. He said it follows CDC guidelines.

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