Some schools in southwest Illinois are taking COVID control back from the state

Schools in two southwest Illinois counties say they will take their directions from their local health departments, not from COVID-19 guidance most recently issued by the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Illinois State Board of Education.

The latest school reopening guidance from IDPH and ISBE, released March 9, was too restrictive for the in-person learning that districts in Monroe and Randolph Counties have been conducting for months, Regional Superintendent of Schools Kelton Davis said.

Besides, said Davis, local officials make better local decisions.

“What’s most important here is that our local health departments here are responding to the conditions in that classroom, that school, that district, that community, instead of a sweeping process that goes statewide,” he said. “ … If a county health department is disengaged with their schools, they’re going to have to defer to IDPH. But for our two counties, we’re talking on a case by case basis. Maybe that’s because of our size.”

Monroe and Randolph Counties each have about 30,000 residents, which puts them close to the median population among Illinois counties.

Davis said he worked with the health departments of each county to write and file a declaration of authority. The documents were filed with the county clerks’ offices Tuesday.

They say when guidance is provided by state agencies such as IDPH or ISBE, the county health department will work with Davis to “provide appropriate mediation strategies that supersede any non-regulatory guidance which takes into consideration and addresses the specific local conditions of a school, district, community or on a county basis.”

Essentially, the declarations argue that county health departments can offer COVID-19 guidance to schools that’s less restrictive than what IDPH and ISBE call for, depending on local pandemic conditions.

“While the State has encouraged strong partnerships between school districts and local public health departments, all school districts must at a minimum meet the statewide public health standards established by ISBE and IDPH,” the state board of education said in an email statement. “The joint public health guidance from ISBE and IDPH supports safe in-person learning while providing school districts as much flexibility as possible.”

IDPH did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

IDPH input still matters

If the local health department doesn’t offer guidance on a particular issue, Davis said schools would defer to state or federal guidance.

The declaration says guidance may be delivered from the local health departments through written, electronic or oral communication. Davis said the county departments are in constant communication with the schools, and won’t necessarily be writing up a full guidance document like the 22-page document IDPH and ISBE released.

Davis characterized the documents as “legal semantics,” that restate what the law already says about what powers local health departments have.

Nationally, some school districts have foregone basic COVID-19 safety guidance. Parents have even filed lawsuits over new school policies requiring facial coverings.

But Davis said filing the declarations does not suggest that the pandemic isn’t real or isn’t severe, but that the local health departments have a more precise understanding of how schools in their jurisdiction are operating.

The local school districts and parochial schools trust the county health departments, Davis said, and were prepared to follow any recommendations — including closures — that may come, pending local conditions.

What “practicable” measures allow schools to be open?

Previous guidance from IDPH and ISBE required social distancing for in-person learning to be six feet or whatever is “practicable.” The new guidance clearly defines the minimum distance for social distancing as three feet, which Davis said would require schools already conducting in-person learning to send students home.

In the meantime, in-person classes without that social distancing standard hasn’t resulted in a COVID outbreak in his region’s schools, Davis said.

“What we have to do is respond to what happens when we’re [social distancing] less than or more than [three or six feet],” he said. “Does it improve? And when we’re not seeing the spread in our schools, what is the relationship of the magic number?”

Health experts differ on social distancing recommendations for schools: the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends three to six feet of social distancing in schools, but the World Health organization recommends just one meter, or 3.3 feet — both, though, recommend at least three feet of space. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lowered its school guidance on Friday, saying three feet of distance is sufficient for all elementary schools and most middle and high schools.

A growing body of research suggests schools are not major transmission sites for COVID-19, but most of those studies are on schools following more restrictive CDC guidance.

One Illinois-based study, that was not peer reviewed, only went as far as to say that the spread of COVID in counties that used hybrid learning — where classrooms are, at most, at half capacity — was no worse than in counties that used all remote learning. Based on county data from the beginning of the year, though, the study did not conclude that full in-person learning wouldn’t have any effect on community spread.

COVID cases down in Monroe, Randolph counties

No schools in either Monroe or Randolph County have had a COVID-19 outbreak in the last 30 days, according to IDPH data.

IDPH defines a school outbreak as one that has been identified by the local health department to have five or more cases who may have a shared exposure on school grounds and are from different households. School-sponsored extracurriculars, including sports, are included.

IDPH also reported on Friday that 1,070 schools in the state — outside of Chicago Public Schools — had potential exposures in the 30 days prior. Among those schools were five in Monroe and Randolph Counties: Immaculate Conception, Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School, Parkview Elementary School, St. Johns Lutheran School and St. Mary School.

Potential exposures are derived from contact tracing. It does not mean that someone necessarily caught COVID through the school, or that they transmitted it to anyone else, but that they were in the building with a confirmed or probable case. Contact tracing data is often incomplete, depending on the ability to reach people who carry the virus and the willingness of those people to report location information.

Data from the health departments provided to IDPH show that both Monroe and Randolph County Health Departments have successfully interviewed more than 90% of cases between August and March — well above the statewide average of 52%.

Overall cases are down, too. On Tuesday, Monroe County had 12 new cases, while Randolph had four, according to data from IDPH. Monroe County’s seven-day rolling average for positivity rate as of Monday was 5.2% and Randolph County’s was 0.8%. IDPH’s positivity rate data is updated on a three-day lag.

“All of those metrics are looking a lot better,” Davis said. “Our local health departments, our county health departments, are confident they’re collecting the data and the metrics. They’re working with the school districts on a daily basis. Their guidance should supersede [state guidance].”