Is COVID spreading in schools? Ohio study could impact student quarantine protocols

While COVID-19 cases in Ohio's schools increase, many educators say they're eyeing a figure that is likely exponentially larger, but not tracked statewide: students who are quarantining due to potential exposure to the virus in their districts.

Even if they don't become sick, quarantining students are forced to miss in-person classes. In a nine-week grading period, a 14-day quarantine — which health officials recommended for most of the school year — would result in a student missing nearly one-fourth of all classes.

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In central Ohio, most districts already have reduced in-person classes to two or three days weekly. 

"It's important for us to have kids here, even if it's just two days a week, to build those relationships," said Diane Allen, superintendent of the Marysville school district. "These are trying times. We want to wrap our arms around them academically, socially and emotionally."

Marysville is one of nine districts in Ohio participating in a statewide study of whether COVID-19 is spreading among students in schools. The study ended Friday. Its results, expected in the next several weeks, could help health officials determine whether quarantining protocols in schools should be modified.

Specifically, it could help clarify whether students who were exposed to COVID-19 while properly wearing masks need to quarantine, as is currently the case, or if restrictions could be decreased safely, said Melanie Amato, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Health, one of four state offices that sponsored the study.

In Marysville, for example, 116 students have been infected with COVID-19 and recovered this school year as of Friday. But about six times as many, 625, have had to quarantine, according to the district's website. Though the state doesn't require districts to publicly report quarantine data, many in central Ohio are reporting it anyway. 

Marysville enrolls about 5,200 students.

During the study, which started in mid-November, students in "close contact" of an infected classmate agreed to be rapid-tested for COVID-19 twice weekly for two weeks. Classmates who were not close contacts also were tested once a week during that time frame.

Districts could allow "close contact" students who had been wearing face masks during exposure to remain in school, unless they eventually tested positive for COVID-19.

Marysville and Whitehall, the two local districts that participated, both declined and had them quarantine anyway, officials said. 

More:Ohio State dashboard helping Columbus-area schools spot COVID outbreaks among children

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines "close contact" as being within 6 feet of an infected person for a total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period. That applies to the two days before a person developed symptoms or tested positive.

Overwhelmingly, children who are "close contacts" have not become infected themselves, Allen said.

"It's an exciting time to possibly be part of a solution, or at the very least, to give schools more information to make better-informed decisions," she said.

Ohio State University conducted the study for the state's departments of health, insurance and Medicaid and Gov. Mike DeWine's office.

The university received some assistance from Wright State University, Ohio University and the Post-Acute Regional Rapid Testing program, which typically delivers rapid COVID-19 testing to seniors living in central Ohio facilities, such as nursing homes and assisted living.

The other participating school districts from outside central Ohio were: Athens, Ashland, Champion, Lakota, Mason, Princeton and Troy. Napoleon schools were invited to participate but declined.

The study caused an uproar last month in Ashland, where "close contact" students remained in classes. As of a Nov. 23 school board meeting, no study participants had tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Ashland Times-Gazette.

Outside of central Ohio, all participating districts that tested students, except for Princeton, also took that approach, according to school officials and information on district websites.

More:Ashland parents raise concerns about district's participation in COVID-19 evaluation

Kevin Miller, director of governmental relations for the Buckeye Association of School Administrators, said many of Ohio's superintendents are looking forward to the results of the study.

"Some are desperately trying to have in-person education," Miller said. "But there are situations where kids quarantine, then they're back in school for just a couple days, and then they're quarantining again."

Modifying quarantine protocols isn't unprecedented as new information becomes available about the novel coronavirus.

The Licking County Health Department, for example, recently said that if students are wearing face masks and separated by at least 3 feet, they no longer are considered a "close contact" of an infected classmate.

In its jurisdiction, about 2,000 students have been quarantined this school year and none have developed COVID-19 from exposure at school, according to the Newark Advocate.

More:Policy change will allow more COVID-19 contacts to remain in Licking County schools

Earlier this month, the CDC also announced new recommendations for people who have been in "close contact" with an infected person. Instead of a blanket 14-day quarantine, two other options are available: a 10-day quarantine, if a person hasn't shown any symptoms; or a seven-day quarantine, if a person hasn't shown any symptoms and also tests negative for COVID-19 within 48 hours of when the quarantine would end.

Marysville has been "hybrid learning" for nearly the entire school year, which has helped limit exposure, Allen said. Students are divided into two groups and attending classes in-person twice weekly.

That makes keeping 6 feet of space much more doable, she said. That space means even if a student has COVID-19 in school, less classmates are in "close contact" and must quarantine.

But safety protocols may also impact how much data will be available in the study's results.

In one participating district, Athens, distancing students has been so effective that it resulted in no students being tested, Superintendent Tom Gibbs said.

This school year, nine students have recovered from COVID-19 and three were infected as of Friday, according to the district's website. Its enrollment is nearly 2,400 students and it is operating in a hybrid format.

The Troy school district also tested no students during hybrid learning, Superintendent Chris Piper said. It unexpectedly spent a portion of the study with students learning completely online due to a bus driver shortage, he said.

The district of about 4,000 students has had 74 total students test positive for COVID-19, according to the Ohio Department of Health dashboard. A district dashboard wasn't available.

Whitehall spokesman Ty Debevoise, meanwhile, said his district had to end its participation in the study prematurely.

Though it had initially planned to have students on a hybrid schedule for the rest of the semester, a swell of COVID-19 cases in the area and statewide led Whitehall to switch back to online learning on Dec. 15.

That arrangement will remain in place until at least Jan. 15. Winter break is Dec. 1-Jan. 3, 2021.

As of Friday, the district of about 3,200 students has had 53 students test positive for COVID-19 this school year, according to its website.

awidmanneese@dispatch.com

@AlissaWidman