Lucas County Board of health recommends students learn from home
The Lucas County Regional Board of Health on Thursday strongly recommended that students in Lucas County be taught virtually/fully remote this fall due to an increase in COVID-19 cases.
The remote learning should last at least until Oct. 1, when the board revisits the issue.
Dr. Eric Zgodzinski, commissioner of the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, said the rate of infection in Lucas County is 183 per 100,000 cases.
“That puts Lucas County second on a list of all 88 counties in Ohio,” said Zgodzinski.
Community testing conducted the previous week had a 10 percent positive rate. We’re much higher than we really want to be to be able to fight the virus. Below five percent is really where we want to be. Below three percent is a very sound percentage to get the virus under control,” he said.
“We’re in the middle of a very dangerous pandemic,” said Dr. Johnathon Ross, president of the board of health. “With the case numbers in our community as high as they are, public health science says if we open schools, we’ll be closing them very quickly. Almost without a doubt, we’ll see outbreaks given the number of cases in the community. This is a really bad time to open.”
He emphasized the importance of wearing masks to get the virus under control.
“If the adults in Lucas County want to open schools, then we need to behave as if we’re on shutdown as close as we can,” said Dr. Ross. “If we all do exactly what we have to do and be as careful as we possibly can, then we’ll see cases come down to the point where we can safely begin to open.”
Oregon
The Oregon school board on Thursday voted in favor of the board of health’s recommendation to begin the school year virtually/fully remote.
“This option allows for students to remain at home but be educated by their teachers,” said Gregory.
The district just last month rolled out plans to restart school in the fall using a hybrid model in which students would attend school on some days of the week and learn from home on other days.
Now, students will officially start remote learning on Aug. 24. The district will be delaying the start of the school year by a few days to allow for device distribution and teacher training, he said.
The first full week of school will be used to acclimate students and parents to the remote learning plan with full academic implementation beginning the week of Aug. 31, he said.
There will be no on-campus instruction prior to Oct. 15 with the possible exception of the district’s special needs students, preschool programs and Career Technology programs, he said.
“We will continue to evaluate under the direction of the Lucas County Health Department,” said Gregory.
The Lucas County Health Board also recommended that all fall sports be suspended until Oct. 1.
“At this time, OCS will suspend all fall sports, marching band and other extra-curricular activities pending any changes in the health department’s recommendations,” said Gregory