The latest surge in coronavirus cases comes as most school systems have already relaxed covid mitigation policies, and the regions' school leaders say don't intend to restore them.
But this latest spike in cases arrives after most districts have already lifted masking requirements and shortened quarantine protocols — and, following federal health guidelines, the region’s school leaders say they are not reconsidering a complete overhaul of covid policies in the final stretch of the academic year. Prince George’s County is the only school district — and one of the few big districts in the country — that still has a mask mandate.
Children’s National Hospital in the District said it is experiencing a slight uptick in covid hospitalizations, with nine children in the hospital with covid on Thursday. During the omicron surge, Children’s National peaked with 67 children in the hospital with covid at one time, according to a hospital spokeswoman.As of Thursday, 4,698 D.C. Public Schools students had been identified as a close contact of someone who tested positive within the last 10 days.
In Virginia, the state’s health department no longer requires schools to contact trace individual virus cases. Fairfax County Public Schools, a district of about 180,000 students, has stopped collecting and monitoring data on the number of students and staffers forced to quarantine because of exposure, according to spokeswoman Julie Moult.
The school also postponed or canceled some after-school activities, including a concert, which upset some parents, Adams said. She added that most people she knows seem ready to move on from the pandemic.“Me personally, we actually pulled our kid out for three days the week there were outbreaks happening in his classroom,” she said.
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