HANCOCK COUNTY — Students are heading back to classes next week for a new year and a new semester, but with the same mask rules their schools had when they left for winter break.
The decision to maintain those requirements comes as COVID-19 cases climb and concerns grow over the virus’s quickly spreading omicron variant. Hancock County recorded 169 new cases on Dec. 28, its most in a single day for the entire pandemic. It topped the last single-day high of 141 set during last winter’s surge, on Jan. 6, 2021.
But the mask continuation also comes as the state plans to incorporate new federal guidance recommending shorter isolation and quarantine periods for COVID-19.
Education leaders in Hancock County say, as they have throughout the pandemic, that their decisions are motivated by data as well as state law and guidelines.
Harold Olin
Jack Parker
Lisa Lantrip
When Greenfield-Central students return on Monday, they’ll be required to wear masks indoors during the school day when they can’t socially distance, as they have for much of the academic year.
“For us it’s based on the number of cases that we’ve had,” Superintendent Harold Olin said.
The school corporation reported 27 COVID-19 cases the week of Nov. 28, 34 the week of Dec. 5 and 32 the week of Dec. 12.
Indiana schools must follow state laws regarding communicable diseases like COVID-19, including isolation and quarantine requirements.
Schools have discretion over practices like masking and social distancing. However, if a school mandates masks, the state allows it to avoid requiring individuals who have been exposed to someone with the virus to quarantine.
“I’ve said this till I’m blue in the face: I don’t like masks any more than anyone else does, but when I can look at our families and say we’re keeping kids in school where we do our best job of educating them, we’re going to continue to do that,” Olin said.
Before Greenfield-Central started requiring masks, the school corporation had 30 COVID-19 cases the week of Aug. 22, which led to a total of 281 close contacts being excluded from school. Olin noted that’s a stark difference from the week of Dec. 12, when G-C had 32 cases and only 30 contacts had to be excluded.
“That’s 250 kids that were healthy we were allowed to keep in school,” he said. “That’s a win for us.”
Olin said if Greenfield-Central’s COVID-19 cases dropped sharply or if the county or state health departments announce new guidance, that could trigger considerations to relax the mask rule.
Jack Parker, superintendent of Mt. Vernon schools, said the corporation will also return with its mask requirement but that leaders plan to revisit it sometime in January.
“We wanted to get back and assess how the pandemic is progressing and what our numbers are looking like,” Parker said.
Since Thanksgiving break, Mt. Vernon has had 79 individuals test positive for COVID-19. Parker added the school corporation has been running a little more than three close-contact quarantines per case, as opposed to 13 per case during the beginning of the year before the state granted flexibility to schools that required masks.
Mt. Vernon has had 354 COVID-19 cases so far this school year, compared to last year’s total of about 400.
“We will do everything we can to keep as many kids and staff in-person learning as much as possible,” Parker said. “We are really using every little bit of the law, every flexibility we have to keep everybody in person because our kids need it. They need in-person learning very badly.”
The school corporation also offers COVID-19 testing to allow close contacts to shorten their quarantines if they get a negative result and don’t have symptoms.
“We see a large percentage of our parents take advantage of that for their children,” Parker said.
Lisa Lantrip, superintendent of Southern Hancock schools, also said the state requirement for schools to mandate masks or else exclude close contacts drives the corporation to continue with face coverings.
“Our goal remains to keep as many students in school as possible,” Lantrip said.
Southern Hancock saw a significant increase in COVID-19 cases between Thanksgiving and Christmas, she added.
“Contact tracing those positives would have resulted in several hundred students contact traced” and excluded from class had a mask requirement not been in place, Lantrip said.
Southern Hancock also offers testing. Lantrip said the school corporation has seen an uptick since opening testing up to students and staff who have COVID-19 symptoms. Initially, it was only available to students who were close contacts.
“Since that change, many more families have taken advantage of the testing,” Lantrip said.
Eastern Hancock reported earlier this month that it would be sticking with its mask requirement for at least another month.
Welcomed new guidance
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this week shortened the recommended time periods for isolating and quarantining for COVID-19. People with the novel coronavirus should now isolate for five days and if they have no symptoms or their symptoms are resolving (without fever for 24 hours), follow that by five days of wearing a mask when around others to minimize the risk of infecting people they encounter.
The CDC said the change is motivated by science demonstrating that the majority of the transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19 occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the one to two days prior to onset of symptoms and the two to three days after.
The agency recommends a shorter quarantine period for those who have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 as well. For people who are un-vaccinated or are more than six months out from their second mRNA dose (or more than two months after the Johnson &Johnson vaccine) and not yet boosted, the CDC now recommends quarantining for five days followed by strict mask use for an additional five days.
The CDC says if a five-day quarantine is not feasible, it is imperative that an exposed person wear a well-fitting mask at all times when around others for 10 days after exposure.
Individuals who have received their booster shot do not need to quarantine following an exposure, but should wear a mask for 10 days after the exposure, according to the CDC.
Dr. Kristina Box, Indiana state health commissioner, said the Indiana Department of Health will work to incorporate the new guidance into recommendations for Indiana schools ahead of next week.
Olin said Greenfield-Central will consider any recommendations that result.
“We have been in favor of implementing most prescribed adjustments from the CDC that allow us to get students back in our school as early as possible,” he said.
Parker expressed a similar sentiment on behalf of Mt. Vernon.
“We will move very quickly to use every bit of guidance and law to keep as many kids in school as possible,” he said. “If they make it more flexible, we will jump right on it.”
BY THE NUMBERS
Student COVID-19 case totals so far this school year
Greenfield-Central
Eden Elementary 8
Harris Elementary 25
JB Stephens Elementary 28
Weston Elementary 21
Greenfield Intermediate 56
Maxwell Intermediate 51
Greenfield Central Junior High 63
Greenfield-Central High 131
Mt. Vernon
Fortville Elementary 60
McCordsville Elementary 47
Mt. Comfort Elementary 22
Mt. Vernon Middle 79
Mt. Vernon High 87
Southern Hancock
Brandywine Elementary 28
New Palestine Elementary 38
Sugar Creek Elementary 38
New Palestine Intermediate 36
New Palestine Jr. High 42
New Palestine High 99
Eastern Hancock
Eastern Hancock Elementary 46
Eastern Hancock Middle 23
Eastern Hancock High 26
Source: Indiana Department of Health
COVID-19 DATA THROUGH DECEMBER 28
Hancock County
603 new tests administered (Dec. 20-28)
169 new cases (Dec. 28)
15.8% seven-day (Dec. 16-22) positivity rate all tests, 9% cumulative rate
0 new deaths
180,828 total tests administered
14,837 total cases
21.6% seven-day (Dec. 16-22) positivity rate unique individuals, 24% cumulative rate
197 total deaths
45,916 fully vaccinated (62.4% of eligible population)
18,318 booster doses
Indiana
41,445 new tests administered (April 24, 2020-Dec. 28, 2021), 8,159 new individuals tested
7,967 new cases (Dec. 16-28, 2021)
14.3% seven-day (Dec. 16-22) positivity rate all tests, 9% cumulative rate
58 new deaths (Dec. 18-28)
16,585,780 total tests administered
4,735,792 total individuals tested
1,234,919 total cases
10,560 reinfection cases since Sept. 1, 2021
24.4% seven-day (Dec. 16-22) positivity rate unique individuals, 25.9% cumulative rate
18,338 total deaths
52.8% ICU beds in use – non-COVID
38% ICU beds in use – COVID
9.2% ICU beds available
21.8% ventilators in use – non-COVID
15.7% ventilators in use – COVID
62.5% ventilators available
Hospital census: 3,061 total COVID-19 patients
Delta variant: 98.7% of samples in December
Omicron variant: 0.9% of samples in December
Not variant of concern: 0.4% of samples in December
651 probable deaths
157 total cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children
3,554,209 fully vaccinated (54.6% of eligible population)
1,363,936 booster doses
112,773 breakthrough cases (3.17% of fully vaccinated individuals)
2,192 breakthrough hospitalizations (0.06% of fully vaccinated individuals)
1,090 breakthrough deaths (0.03% of fully vaccinated individuals)
Source: Indiana Department of Health
