SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane Health Officer Dr. Bob Lutz supported the decision to allow early learners in grades K-2 to return to in-person classes on Thursday.
In a press conference Monday, Lutz said he made the recommendation because it’s a critical time in that age group’s development. He explained the recommendations for keeping schools clean, wearing masks and when he would recommend returning to virtual learning.
“It's important, it's really essential, I think, to get all kids back in person learning, but especially those early learners because again they are just learning the very rudimentary patterns of how you go about your day in in person instruction education,” Lutz said.
Coronavirus cases in children ages 0-9 make up nearly 4%, or 248, of the 6,801 total cases in Spokane County, according to the Spokane Regional Health District’s data dashboard.
“From July 1 to last week, I want to say we had something on the order of less than 30 children in that age group, and what I did our incidence rate for that age group, it was less than one per 100,000,” Lutz said. “So, I felt very comfortable, and I still feel very comfortable with that age group.”
Lutz said there is a lengthy list of recommendations for schools to follow to bring students back to in-person classes, from social distance to hygiene to class sizes. He said they even recommend allowing students occasional mask breaks when students are taking part in physical education and recess.
As for when he would consider rescinding the recommendations, he said cases numbers would have to meet the Centers for Disease Control thresholds for risk of COVID-19 in schools. The CDC says the highest risk of transmission in schools would be when there are 200 or more new cases per 100,000 people within a 14-day period.
“It's one thing if I'm seeing children with infection. Another thing, if I'm seeing adults with infections,” Lutz explained. “It's also important to see where the transmission is occurring. Is it occurring in the school setting, is it occurring extracurricular? And I think today, many of our children are seeing the infection occur outside of the school, which is a credit to the fact that many of the recommendations for keeping the school safe seem to be working.”