Wichita schools would reopen online under Kansas guidance with current COVID numbers
School reopening guidelines for the coronavirus pandemic issued by Kansas education officials would push Wichita area schools online if classes were to start now.
The so-called gating criteria released by the Kansas Department of Education is intended as a recommendation for local officials. It uses various pandemic indicators to determine whether schools should be open for in-person, online or hybrid learning.
All schools in Sedgwick County would use hybrid learning for elementary school and online only education for middle and high school if classes started with the current COVID-19 statistics and the district chose to follow the state guidance. Wichita Public Schools does not have a hybrid model, so the state guidelines would call for all USD 259 students to be remote.
Sedgwick County falls in the orange category of the gating criteria. There are green, yellow, orange and red categories, with green being the most open and red being the most restrictive.
Wichita Public Schools have not yet decided if they will follow the state’s gating criteria or other similar guidelines, a district official said on Thursday when announced confirmed cases of COVID-19 at local schools. Teachers returned to work last week, but students don’t start until Sept. 8.
“Our board is in the process of looking at which one of those criteria are best for them to use when they make the final decision — or the most current decision — in regards to whether we keep children in schools or go fully remote,” said Terri Moses, the director of safety and environmental services for USD 259.
The district has its own decision-making guide, but it does not detail thresholds for the various plans in the same way the state guidelines do.
In addition to hybrid learning for younger students and online learning for older students, the orange category of the state’s guidelines recommends all school activities be remote only. Spectators and audiences would also be remote. Visitor access would be extremely limited on an appointment basis, with masking and social distancing required.
Playgrounds would still be open, but with restrictions. A limited capacity would allow for 6 feet of social distancing, and masks would be required if the social distancing could not be maintained. Group numbers would be limited.
The categories are based on various COVID-19 data.
The first gating criteria is based on student absenteeism compared to the average daily attendance last school year. Since classes do not start in Wichita until Sept. 8, there is no data on student absenteeism.
The two-week positive test percentage is the clearest indicator. The local positive test percentage as of Wednesday was 10.38%, according to the Sedgwick County Health Department. The number has not been under 10% in more than a month. A rate between 10% and 14.9% is in the orange category.
The two-week cumulative incidence rate in the county is another criteria. It uses the number of new cases per 100,000 people over the previous two weeks.
Sedgwick County reported 3,962 confirmed cases on July 30 and 5,141 cases on Thursday. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the county’s population at 516,042 in 2019. The 1,179 new cases over two weeks is equivalent to about 228 cases per 100,000 residents.
The rate is higher if Kansas Department of Health and Environment numbers are used. The KDHE reported 5,334 cases in the county as of Wednesday and 3,951 cases on July 29. The 1,383 new cases in Sedgwick County equates to about 268 cases per 100,000 residents.
Both numbers are in the red zone, which starts at 151 new cases per 100,000 people.
Another criteria is the trend in county incidence rate. The state education department did not have a clear definition for this criteria, such as how long of a trend is considered. A stable trend is in the yellow and orange categories, while a decreasing trend is green and an increasing trend is red.
Several COVID-19 indicators in Sedgwick County worsened for most of July, but have improved some since then. The daily case rate, calculated using the most recent data from the county health department, was just under 100 new cases per day between July 1 and July 23. It slowed to about 84 per day between July 23 and Aug. 1. Since then, there have been about 62 per day.
Depending on the length of time and the calculation for the trend in county incidence rate, Sedgwick County could likely be placed in the green, yellow or orange category.
Local hospital capacity is the last criteria. Sedgwick County does not release overall capacity, but it does have an approximate intensive care unit capacity. As of Monday, about 12.5% of ICU beds were available. That puts the county in the orange category, which has an available capacity at local hospitals between 10% and 19.9%.
This story was originally published August 14, 2020 at 11:59 AM.