County to share district virus data
No plan to release cases per school
Shelby County will release COVID-19 cases by school district, county officials announced Tuesday.
Officials will “regularly distribute” the number of cases among children across district lines “in an effort to expand the information about any potential spread in a school district,” according to a press release.
The move toward more transparency comes after Alisa Haushalter, director of the health department, said last week the county intended to follow state notification guidelines. Gov. Bill Lee has changed course on school reporting protocols three times this month and current discussions with federal officials about how to report school-related COVID-19 data could soon end in another change.
“The Shelby County Health Department will continue to expand the information that is reported out to the public,” Haushalter said in a statement, “and in particular, its communications with communities and families at risk,” she said, referencing new notification rules for schools outlined in a health directive published Monday.
The new directive strengthened communication requirements of schools to families and staff, but stopped short of requiring schools to notify all families or the public about all cases of COVID-19 at a school.
Schools and child care facilities must coordinate with the Shelby County Health Department when there is a “confirmed” case of COVID-19, according to the directive issued Monday. Haushalter confirmed Tuesday that the
directive applies to private schools as well as public.
The health department and school or facility will then determine and identify parents, students and staff “at risk” and notify them of the case within 12 hours, per the directive.
The directive states that the individuals deemed “at risk” should receive weekly updates from the school, and also include actions taken to mitigate and reduce transmission risks and any changes to building operations.
Tuesday, Haushalter said that to determine those at risk, the health department works with schools to review social distancing, where the individual with COVID-19 traveled within the school and whether the person wore a mask or had a cough. If an asymptomatic student who wore a mask and social distanced from classmates tested positive, for example, it is possible there would not be any close contacts in the classroom, she said.
“These amendments ensure that critical information is shared with atrisk individuals so that they can take appropriate action to protect themselves, their families, and their loved ones,” Haushalter said. “Also, these changes to the Health Directive will put us on the path to creating a more uniform approach at the various schools around Shelby County.”
In a statement, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris said: “The latest amendments to the Health Directive mean that when there is any confirmed case at a school, the Shelby County Health Department will work with that school to ensure that those at risk are notified and advised about reducing risk. We must ensure that those at risk — parents, families, students, and staff at schools — get the information they need to protect themselves, and receive that information as rapidly as possible.”
No current plans to release school-by-school data, official says
The health department is not presently considering to release data by school, Haushalter said Tuesday, though she said Shelby County will follow the lead of any state guidance issued.
“I know the governor has sought some reprieve from the federal government to be able to release information and so if that changes we will change locally,” she said.
It is unclear if the data released by the health department will be released as pediatric cases by municipality or as cases by school district. The lack of clarity also poses questions around whether or not cases among students in private schools, which are not part of public school districts, would be included in regular reporting by the health department.
“We will focus on the community that surrounds the schools,” Haushalter said Tuesday. “What you have to keep in mind is that any transmission is school or anyone who tests positive in school really is a reflection of community transmission. We already provide data by municipality to each of the respective mayors and so we’ll break that information down by pediatric cases within that municipality as well. And that’s an indicator of community transmission and also helps the elected officials know what actions to take.
In Shelby County, there are seven public school districts, ranging in size. Even the largest municipal district, Collierville Schools, enrolls about onetenth of the students enrolled in Shelby County Schools. Even still, there are an additional 18,000 SCS students who are enrolled in public charter schools that are overseen by the district but whose reopening plans are autonomous from the reopening plans for the other schools in the district.
Because of charter schools, optional schools, private schools and out-of-district transfer students, children could easily attend a school that is not in their home zip code. Teachers and staff, too, do not necessarily teach in their own zip code.
The Shelby County Health Department did not immediately respond to clarify whether staff cases would be included in the reporting by district or whether the report would only include pediatric cases.
Both Haushalter and Harris said that released information at the school level could stigmatize students who have been diagnosed with a COVID-19 case. The priority now, Haushalter said, is for students to “get back into the classroom quickly and continue to learn.”
“We know that schools are places where information is shared quickly in the hallway and because of the stigma that’s associated with disease, this kind of information about children will again have to be handled with extreme care,” Harris said.
“We will focus on the community that surrounds the schools.” Alisa Haushalter director of the Shelby county health department