Southwest Illinois schools adapt to COVID surges, including return to remote learning

Some school districts in the metro-east are changing their learning plans as students return from winter break, to curb the spread of COVID from the omicron variant and travel over the holidays.

New daily COVID case numbers in Illinois are at an all-time high, according to data from the Illinois Department of Public Health, and every county in the state is considered to have high transmission.

Among those districts welcoming students back remotely is Belleville Township High School District 201.

“Despite our best effort to start second semester in person, the increase in infections throughout the community has impacted our ability to appropriately and safely staff our buildings,” District 201 Superintendent Brian Mentzer said in an automated phone call to parents Monday.

Mentzer said winter break will be extended a day through Tuesday and that students will check into their classes remotely until at least the end of the week.

“This pause is intended to be brief,” Mentzer said in the call. “We will re-evaluate over the weekend.”

The seven-day average for new cases on Thursday was 18,321. That’s more than 2.5 times than just a few weeks ago; on Dec. 13, the seven-day average was 7,153 new cases per day. It’s been rising steeply ever since.

The previous high for new cases was a seven-day average of 12,384 new cases in November 2020.

The omicron variant appears to spread more quickly than othervariants of coronavirus, but it’s not clear yet if it’s more dangerous to contract than either the original virus or the delta variant.

Here’s what other metro-east districts are doing in response to raising case numbers:

• Belleville Township HIgh School 201 is remote through Friday due to staffing shortages.
• Cahokia School District 187 students will be remote through Jan. 14, according to a letter sent to parents.
• East St. Louis School District 189 students will return to the classroom on Tuesday, Jan. 18, according to a press release from the district. Students will be learning remotely until then.
• Edwardsville CUSD 7 will keep its older students remote this week, while K-5 students attend class in-person, as scheduled. The district will re-evaluate local data on Friday.
• Mascoutah School District 19 canceled school on Thursday on Friday. Those days will be made up at the end of the year, and the district is adopting a modified schedule that includes shorter days for older students on Monday.

This story will be updated.

This story was originally published January 3, 2022 at 12:56 PM.