Schools make up greatest percentage of COVID-19 outbreaks in El Paso County
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — Kindergarten through 12th Grade schools account for nearly one-fourth of active COVID-19 outbreaks, according to El Paso County Public Health.
Several local school districts have announced plans to transition into remote learning either this week or in the coming weeks. According to the health department, there are 24 active outbreaks in K-12 schools right now. That’s more than any other category.
KRDO asked the county’s medical director where school outbreaks are coming from.
“What we’ve seen is more community spread coming into the schools,” said Dr. Robin Johnson. “And the schools do a pretty darn good job of minimizing the spread within the school. It speaks to their social distancing and wearing of masks.”
Johnson says the school outbreaks are a better reflection of the recent surge in infection rates across the county, rather than infections within schools.
Harrison School District 2 has reported 52 cases district-wide this school year. Eight of those cases were confirmed last week. Now the district is planning for full remote learning after Thanksgiving.
“Especially the zip codes that we serve in Harrison School District 2, we felt like it was best to do our part from a public health perspective and move to e-learning to hopefully slow spread of the virus in Southeast Colorado Springs,” said Christine O'Brien, the public information officer for HSD2.
“Out of precaution, we closed the school," said Rob Daugherty, the CEO of James Irwin Charter Schools. "The students began remote learning today and part of next week before Thanksgiving. And we’re going to go through and clean the school again.”
They plan to return to in-person learning after that. New state guidelines continue to encourage in-person learning when possible.
“The ability to have live instruction for our students can be an imperative, not only for their academics, but for their emotional and social development," Dr. Johnson said.
