As COVID keeps climbing, will Wichita schools’ one-week shutdown help or hurt?

Wichita school board members did what they had to do Monday, shutting down the state’s largest district for a full week over Thanksgiving to allow students and teachers time to regroup during an out-of-control pandemic.

What they’ll face when they return — or if they return in-person at all — will depend on how much everyone in our community is willing to sacrifice.

“Please, please, please, those of you out there, please take this opportunity to follow public health and safety guidelines,” said Superintendent Alicia Thompson.

That’s four — count ‘em, four — pleases.

“Make the difficult decision to stay home and not to travel, and not to attend those large gatherings,” Thompson said. “I plead with you to do that.”

Board members echoed her concerns, emphasizing that everyone — not just district employees and families — needs to heed public health directives.

“Stay home, be safe, enjoy your immediate family, but don’t go out into big groups if at all possible,” said board president Sheril Logan. “We want everybody back from the holidays healthy.”

With COVID-19 cases rising across the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says staying home with only members of your immediate household is the best way to protect yourself and others and to curb the spread of coronavirus.

This year, that means holing up at home for the holidays.

We’ve learned from experience already this year — Easter, July Fourth and Labor Day — that holidays lead to gatherings, which often lead to coronavirus clusters.

We’ve also learned that weddings, parties and other private gatherings have contributed to Sedgwick County’s rising positive test rate for COVID-19, which currently sits at a terrifying 24%.

For too many Kansans, time off from work or school means time to get together with family and friends. Add to that thousands of college students heading home for the holidays, and it’s a coronavirus minefield.

So next week will be a test of our collective will to do the right thing.

Don’t think your extended-family gathering could turn into a super-spreader event? Consider this:

A recent report by the Los Angeles Times showed how a single wedding reception in Maine led to 176 COVID-19 infections and seven deaths. None of the people who died had attended the reception.

Our social circles are wider-ranging than most of us think. And while it’s possible to take precautions to make COVID-era Thanksgivings somewhat safer — quarantining ahead of time, eating outside, opening windows, masking up, cutting parties short — experts agree that cocooning with your immediate family is the wisest option.

It’s been “a rough couple of weeks” in an extraordinarily difficult year, Thompson, the Wichita superintendent, told board members Monday. Everyone’s tired and needing to recuperate.

The week off could help, as long as we keep working together.

Please, please, please.

This story was originally published November 16, 2020 at 5:00 PM.