Returning Kids To Schools 'Reasonable': JeffCo Health Director

JEFFERSON COUNTY, AL — After schools throughout the state started the 2020-21 school year either fully online or on a hybrid learning platform, the Jefferson County Department of Health says students returning to campus full time is "more reasonable" than it was at the beginning of the school year.

Jefferson County health director Dr. Mark Wilson issued a statement Monday saying, "The relative risks related to the spread of COVID-19 versus the benefits of in-person instruction for secondary schools have shifted to the point that is now reasonable to consider a more flexible approach going forward."

Although risk of the spread of COVID-19 is still high in Jefferson County, Wilson said the state has made significant progress in slowing the spread of the virus since he issued his first opinion in July.

"We are in a better place than we were at the end of July," Wilson said. "Furthermore, our local hospitals are no longer at full capacity for COVID-19 beds. Several schools have also had the benefit of weeks of experience in successfully implementing COVID-19 precautions, and working with the health department to rapidly identify cases and contacts so they can be isolated. So far, there has not been clear evidence of spread in our schools during class time."

Vestavia Hills City Schools announced Monday students on the hybrid platform may return to campus full time starting October 14, based on Wilson's guidelines. Other area school systems are expected to follow suit.

"In the near future our recommendations will include but will not be limited to continued universal use of face coverings throughout the school day as recommended in the July 31 guidance, and taking reasonable steps, where practicable, to maintain six feet of separation between persons of different households," Wilson said. "JCDH will work with schools to determine if and when it may be necessary to curtail in-person instruction should there be evidence of significant spread of virus within a school or a critical increase in community disease activity. The cases we have seen in schools appear to have been acquired from non-school related social activities and large gatherings. Schools do not operate in a vacuum, and the communities they are in are critical to the success or failure of their reopening plans."