Texas school reopening rules won’t require contact tracing

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Texas school districts will not be required to trace contacts this year if a student contracts COVID-19, according to new guidelines released by the Texas Education Agency this week.

The agency said a district should notify parents if it learns that a student has been in close contact with someone infected with the virus. But with the relaxation of contact tracing, general notifications will no longer be required.

The TEA announced its rules in public health guidelines released Thursday. While districts must report positive cases to their local health departments and to the state, the TEA said contact tracing will not be necessary due to “data from 2020-21 showing transmission rates of Very low COVID-19 in a classroom and data showing a lower transmission rate in children than in adults.

But some public health experts were quick to question that rationale, noting that the more contagious delta variant of the virus was not prevalent in the past school year.

“We are going to find out that the transmission rate in schools is going to be much higher with the delta variant and it is absolutely imperative that people return to masking,” said Dr Marc Mazade, medical director of infection prevention at Cook Children’s in Fort Worth.

The new directive allows distance learning for up to 20 days for students who are sick or have been exposed to COVID-19. If more time is needed, schools can request waivers. Longer-term distance learning was heavily funded after it was offered at the start of the pandemic, and efforts to allocate funding for it have so far failed in the legislature this year.

Schools in Texas vary in when they return to class, with many starting within a few days or having already started. Many were hoping for a safer and easier return to school after the drop in hospitalizations and COVID-19-related infections in the state. But with the emergence of the delta variant, cases and hospitalizations – including among children – are on the rise again, especially among unvaccinated populations, alarming some public health experts, parents and teachers.

TEA also allows schools to perform rapid tests on staff to mitigate the risk of asymptomatic people on campus. With the written permission of parents, students can also be tested. Parents and school officials should continue to keep students out of classrooms if they have COVID-19 or are showing symptoms. Parents can also choose to keep their children at home for 10 days after learning their children have been in close contact with someone who has contracted the virus, according to the new guidelines.

Dr Seth D. Kaplan, president of the Texas Pediatric Society and a Frisco-based pediatrician, said his organization believes contact tracing should be mandatory in schools. After the TEA announced, his organization contacted Texas State Department health services to urge authorities to mandate contact tracing and rethink TEA guidelines, he said.

“Our concern right now is that we are receiving direction based on old conditions, but we are not adjusting to current conditions,” Kaplan said. “We no longer have universal masking and we have a much more contagious variant of the virus. … Not doing contact tracing is based on the old rules of the game. ”

Kaplan said doctors have observed outbreaks of COVID-19 in summer camps where the “numbers have just started to explode.” He said he saw parents who had to be hospitalized in the intensive care unit after contracting the virus from children returning from the camp.

While the number of children hospitalized or died from COVID-19 is still rare, Kaplan said complications increase as the delta variant spreads, and medical experts continue to learn how the variant affects children.

“We are dealing with a variant which is more contagious, which is potentially more dangerous for children depending on the number of children admitted to the hospital,” he said. “Fortunately, it’s still a small number, but it’s a growing number at levels we haven’t seen before in the pandemic.”

Texas State Teachers Association president Ovidia Molina said in a statement that the new guidelines fail to alleviate the anxiety and fears many face about returning to school given the districts’ inability. to impose masks.

“The approach outlined in the new TEA guidelines fails to holistically address campus-level COVID-19 outbreaks,” Molina said in a statement. “Even with the requirements for reporting positive Covid-19 cases, the new guidelines are woefully short to help districts keep campuses, students, and employees safe.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently recommended universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of their immunization status, while the number of delta variants increased. However, Governor Greg Abbott has prevented public entities, including schools, from requiring masks or vaccines. The TEA has echoed this restriction in its latest guidelines. Many health experts are asking parents to voluntarily mask their children and vaccinate them if they are eligible.

As the school year approaches across much of Texas, Mazade, the Fort Worth hospital manager, said his organization had started to see a rapid increase in COVID-19-related hospitalizations and visits. at emergency centers. Most patients are not vaccinated and are usually infected with an unvaccinated family member. The hospital is also experiencing an outbreak of respiratory syncytial virus, which is usually seen between October and March. This third wave of the pandemic and the RSV outbreak is straining resources, he said.

For children who cannot be vaccinated, Mazade recommends that parents “cocoon” their children by vaccinating themselves and others around them and that everyone wear masks at school.

Stephanie Stoebe, a fourth-grade teacher at Teravista Elementary School in Round Rock, said that while the TEA has not required parents to be notified of cases, she believes school administrators and parents should find out. mutually if a child has COVID. -19 or has COVID-like symptoms.

“I would support contact tracing,” Stoebe said. “If a child in my class has lice or conjunctivitis, sometimes I have to let the parents know. So if I need to notify a parent because a class member has lice, it would still make sense for me to notify a parent that a class member has COVID. “

At least one school district is considering flouting Abbott’s order. Millard House II, superintendent of the Houston Independent School District, said Thursday he plans to put a mask mandate to a vote at the district’s board meeting next week – highlighting the increase in hospitalizations and infections. Houston ISD is the state’s largest school district and appears to be the first district willing to go against Abbott’s order.

“We know we’re going to be pushed back for this. We know people will be angry, ”House said. “But what we have to understand is that if we have the chance to save a life, this is what we should be doing.”

Organizations such as Texans Care for Children and the Texas American Federation of Teachers have called on Abbott to allow local school officials to make their own decisions about masking policies.

Austin ISD has also said it will require masks on school buses.

A spokesperson for the governor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Abbott on Thursday announced its agenda for the Second Special Legislative Session, which included education priorities. The governor wants legislation that maintains voluntary COVID-19 masking and vaccination. He also added that in-person learning should be available to any student whose parents so desire, with the broad language leaving the door open for passage of a bill that could fund virtual learning.

TEA’s advice will spark more interest in virtual learning during the second special session, and in particular will spark more in-depth conversations about how to fund distance education in the future, said Bob Popinski. , director of Raise Your Hand Texas. But, in the near future, school districts could face logistical challenges as they prepare to offer distance education to students who have or are exposed to the virus. Staffing can become an issue as classroom teachers cannot teach distant students, according to guidelines.

“Everything over the past 18 months is an ever-changing policy when it comes to providing education to our students during these times,” he said.

Reese Oxner contributed reporting.

Disclosure: Raise Your Hand Texas, Texans Care for Children, the Texas State Teachers Association, and Texas AFT financially supported The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial support plays no role in the journalism of the Tribune. Find a full list of them here.

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