The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control has issued new guidelines for school districts trying to cope with increasing COVID-19 cases. As of Sept. 6, DHEC reported 5,375 positive cases among students and 490 among school employees.
On Sept. 8, DHEC released a 33-page update for K-12 schools that included suggested thresholds for school districts to consider when considering a return to virtual learning.
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“These suggested thresholds were carefully developed by DHEC’s medical epidemiologists based on their professional judgement,” said Dr. Brannon Traxler, DHEC’s public health director. “These are not requirements. They are guidelines and recommendations that could better assist our school officials who continue to be challenged with making really difficult decisions but who are acting in the best interest of protecting the health of their students, their students’ families and their dedicated teachers and staff.”
The new guidelines give scenarios for when a district may have a school or grade level temporarily go to virtual learning. One option is if a school is unable to maintain operations with current staffing as determined by the school district. Other factors can include an absentee rate of 30% or higher due to students in isolation and quarantine due to COVID-19 and if 5-10% or higher of the student body is in isolation after testing positive.
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DHEC is working to expand the online dashboard that provides COVID-19 case counts among students and school employees in the public, private and charter schools to include information about the number of students and the number of staff who are isolated and quarantined.
Aiken County currently has three schools with absentee rates more than 50% and at the Sept. 7 called meeting of the school board Superintendent King Laurence said the district has four schools “knocking on the door” of remote learning.
The districts are limited in the ability to offer virtual learning due to joint resolution 704 passed in April by the General Assembly. The state’s Department of Education website explains, “It also requires five day in person learning to be offered to next school year, removes earnings limitations (up to $50,000) for retired K-12 educators, and prohibits districts from assigning a teacher to deliver instruction to students simultaneously in-person and virtually unless it is reasonable and necessary due to extreme and unavoidable circumstances. In such circumstances, additional compensation must be provided. “
DHEC’S updated guidance also places an emphasis on testing and includes options for shortening the required quarantine periods. For example, someone not fully vaccinated but who has been in close contact with someone with COVID-19 but showing no symptoms may complete a 10-day quarantine if the person is not presenting symptoms of COVID-19 after daily at-home monitoring. That can be shortened to seven days if they have no symptoms and receive a negative antigen or PCR test. However, if a quarantine is ended early, the individual should wear a mask for the remainder of the usual 14-day quarantine.
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Although DHEC recommends mask-wearing at schools, districts are prohibited from enacting a mask mandate because of a proviso the state legislature included in the state budget.
The state health department does have authority to issue emergency orders for local situations to prevent immediate, imminent danger, but Traxler said it would be tough to exercise the authority statewide.
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“The situation in all of our school districts across the state are different. Issuing a statewide order that applies equally and to every school and would be enforceable with the current proviso in place and would withstand legal challenge is not currently feasible,” she explained. “Should the situation in a school or school district warrant DHEC may consider issuing a public health order for masks on a by-location basis.
However, such an order could not be enforced by the school employees with the proviso in place so that would make its feasibility very challenging.”
The new guidelines are available on DHEC’s website.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a Staff Reporter with The Augusta Press. You can reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com.
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