BOISE, Idaho — When it comes to reporting COVID-19 cases or outbreaks from local schools, don't expect to see public health districts release those numbers, KTVB reported that earlier this month. Instead, expect school districts to release that information.
That information, and how it's released, is going to look different district to district.
“A lot of that will depend on what really happens because as we know there isn't just one answer,” Nampa School District spokesperson Kathleen Tuck said.
Right now, students in the Nampa School District are learning remotely. The board plans to meet on Sept. 1 to vote on if students could be brought back after Labor Day, depending on the spread of the coronavirus.
When students do go back to school, there's obviously a chance a student or staff member may catch the virus.
“If we determine that there has been some infection possibility there then we will look at does that student need to quarantine, and if they do, who else needs to quarantine?” Tuck said.
Dealing with infectious diseases isn't new for school districts. So, their reporting procedures will look like what they've been in the past.
“Last year we had a lot of pertussis cases in school, but we didn’t have to close the schools down,” Tuck said. “We were able to figure out who might have been in the area with those kids, who might possibly been contagious, and work with that.”
When a student or staff member is potentially infected though it’ll look like other situations. A contact tracer from Southwest District Health will call the infected person and find out who they’ve been in contact with lately to determine who else may be at risk.
The public health district will work hand in hand with the school district in notifying the right people.
“We will reach out to the parents whose kids might have been infected,” Tuck said. “Then we will send a message to the school saying this is what happened, if you haven't heard from us then you don't need to worry. It's taken care of.”
West Ada School District is also working hand in hand with Central District Health to determine anyone who may have been in close contact with someone who tested positive.
Close contact means someone who was less than 6 feet for more than 15 minutes.
“Central District Health will reach out to those close contacts for notification,” West Ada School District spokesperson Char Jackson said.
However, how many people get notified of a confirmed case inside the school will change depending on the situation. The district said it will be a case-by-case basis.
“The steps going forward will depend a lot upon what was happening at the time that student became ill and what happened before that,” Jackson said. “I will say it’s not black and white, there’s no number that if one student is exposed then we only send those kids in the classroom, there's obviously a lot of factors.”
KTVB reached to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to find out if they will be releasing COVID-19 case numbers from school districts.
A spokesperson told KTVB over email the department is still discussing how this info will be released and they hope to know more by the end of the week.
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