WA schools, child care centers must continue to follow COVID protocols

Aug. 12—Ahead of the start of the new school year, the Washington State Department of Health has updated its requirements and recommendations for K-12 schools and child care settings as the COVID-19 pandemic persists.

Not much has changed. Public and private schools and child care providers are still required to monitor for coronavirus cases and outbreaks in school. Individuals who test positive for the coronavirus are still required to stay at home and isolate for five days.

Schools and child care providers are still required to report cases, outbreaks (three or more cases within a specified core group), and suspected outbreaks to local health jurisdictions and to have a system in place to respond and notify students, staff and families. But they're no longer required to directly notify individuals who are at high risk of infection — such as people who are immunocompromised — of an exposure to an infected person or persons.

"We are entering a new stage of coexisting with COVID-19 in our communities, knowing that COVID-19 is here to stay for the foreseeable future," state Secretary of Health Dr. Umair A. Shah said in an update on Wednesday.

Shah underscored efforts to mitigate the spread of the disease while keeping classrooms open for in-person learning.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated to a streamlined version of its guidance for school and early education and care settings on Thursday. Generally, the guidelines align.

The most significant change at the federal and state levels is that health officials are no longer requiring individuals who have been exposed to COVID-19 to quarantine. Therefore officials are dropping the so-called "Test to Stay" requirements.

The state and federal health authorities say schools and child care centers must ensure access to timely diagnostic testing for children and staff with COVID-19 symptoms or who may have been exposed and want to test.

The CDC underscored that accessibility and communications should accommodate people who need language support services and people with disabilities who need accessible formats of testing and receiving information. How schools and child care providers choose to inform youth, staff and families is up to them. It can be by memo or by data dashboard.

Washington state health department spokesperson Emily Fredenberg said the latest guidance is meant to be a foundation for local health jurisdictions and tribal health authorities on which to anchor their recommendations and policies. "It's really important to take that local context into consideration," she said.

She also said that local and state health officials would work with schools and providers to help them keep up with the outlined requirements. Fredenberg said it would be based on "the nature of the concern" whether or not officials would then notify the public of a school or child care center that was out of compliance.

Among children and youth in Washington, there were 4,779 cases of COVID-19 counted between July 16 and July 30, according to state data published this week. The case rates have been decreasing, but children in the birth to 3-year-old age group had the highest case rates among youth, 426.5 cases per population of 100,000. Seventy young people were hospitalized, although those rates are decreasing as well for the youth population.

As infection rates and outbreaks may change, schools, child care providers and local health jurisdictions may choose to implement more protective measures. The state health department will continue to collect data from local jurisdictions on COVID-19 cases and localized outbreaks.

A spokesperson for Seattle Public Schools said the district will be communicating further with families about its coronavirus protocols during the last week of August. The first day of school is Sept. 7.

In a Tuesday news briefing, King County and Seattle public health officer Dr. Jeff Duchin said the wave of the BA.5 variant appears to have crested in the county. In the past 30 days, only 6% of people hospitalized due to the disease were under age 20 and 28% have been adults between the ages of 20 and 59.

Health officials have noted that while vaccination rates remain high, rates of booster shots are lagging across all age groups in Washington, particularly among kids and teenagers.

Health officials continue to recommend masking, ventilation and other measures to improve indoor air quality, as well as practicing good personal hygiene and sanitizing shared spaces, materials and equipment. Those efforts not only mitigate the spread of COVID-19, but also help keep colds, influenza and other viruses in check. Those illnesses tend to ramp up with the fall and winter seasons and the return to school and more indoor gatherings.

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