Week in Review 08-06-2021

CORONAVIRUS

Ohio is again seeing a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases, registering 895 new cases on Monday, 1,769 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday and another 2,167 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also updated its count of Ohio counties at a “high” or “substantial” transmission rate for which indoor masking is recommended, bringing that to 67 in total on Tuesday. That total included 17 counties at a high level and 50 at a substantial level. The new “high transmission” list includes Adams, Allen, Ashland, Clinton, Defiance, Fairfield, Fulton, Gallia, Greene, Highland, Lawrence, Miami, Monroe, Montgomery, Scioto, Shelby and Williams counties.

Meanwhile, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) reported Wednesday another 11,794 individuals had started the vaccination in the last day, taking the total in the state who have started a vaccine to 5,801,034 or 49.63 percent of Ohio’s population.

EDUCATION

Effective use of mitigation measures can help keep unvaccinated students in school after potential COVID exposure, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) said in guidance released Thursday to address when school exposure should or should not spark a quarantine period. Quarantine is not necessary following in-school exposure if students and staff are masked, physical distancing of at least three feet between desks is instituted and other documented prevention policies — improved ventilation, cleaning protocols, screening for symptoms — are in place, according to the guidelines. Absent implementation of all those policies in combination, quarantine still is not required for the fully vaccinated if those exposed wear a mask for two weeks or until a test administered three to five days post-exposure comes back negative, assuming a lack of symptoms.

Organizers of a coming lawsuit to challenge Ohio’s school voucher system say the recently enacted state budget only strengthens their case with its expansion of the choice program. Bill Phillis of the Coalition for Equity and Adequacy in Education, leader of the landmark DeRolph litigation, said in a virtual news conference Monday that the Vouchers Hurt Ohio coalition has picked up dozens more school districts just since the start of this fiscal year and plans to file the lawsuit “very shortly.” They will likely file in Franklin County, anticipating that the state would move for a change of venue to bring the case there if it were filed anywhere else, he said.

The U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) released a “Return to School Roadmap” Monday that offers schools guidance on priorities of health and safety; supporting students’ social, emotional and mental health; and improving academic achievement. At https://sites.ed.gov/roadmap/, the agency offers a variety of resources on those three priorities.