Moscow schools stay open amid omicron surge

The highly-contagious omicron variant of COVID-19 is dealing another blow to the Moscow School District, which has seen cases double since the height of the delta wave last fall.

In an email Sunday night, Moscow School District Superintendent Greg Bailey told parents and guardians to assume their student has been exposed to someone with the virus, even if they haven’t been notified through contact tracing.

“Since almost all the classes will be dealing with students or staff who have tested positive, we will no longer be sending out a school-wide and/or whole-class communication when a positive case occurs in the school,” Bailey said. “Instead, we recommend that you assume your student will be in contact with someone who is positive with COVID-19.”

The school district will continue communicating with the parents or guardians of students considered to be a close contact, but is urging the community to follow preventative measures in an effort to slow the spread and keep schools open for in person instruction.

Last Friday, the school district reported 17 new cases among its schools. On Monday, it added 23 new cases to the tally.

“Unfortunately, we are starting to see an upturn in the number of cases within the school setting due to the omicron variant being present in our community and schools,” Bailey said. “If your student is showing any symptoms, we ask that you keep your student home while symptoms persist and contact the school for further directions. We will continue with our protocols in the school system throughout this surge.”

There have been 150 cases throughout the school district since students went back to the classroom in September, according to the school district’s COVID-19 dashboard. Based on recent counts, Moscow Middle School tops the list of schools with the highest number of cases.

The school district reported an absence rate of nearly 20% last week among its schools.

At a Moscow School Board meeting nearly two weeks ago, trustees voted to extend the school district’s mask requirement through the end of the third quarter on April 7. They also approved updated isolation and quarantine protocols, following recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to allow for an earlier return to class after infection.

“We hope the predictions that this surge will only last for a short time is accurate and we can again start considering removing some of the COVID-19 protocols,” Bailey said.

While omicron tends to be milder in children, the number of children testing positive for the virus is higher than at any other point in the pandemic. The latest variant is significantly more transmissible than earlier strains.

Public Health – Idaho North Central District reported 171 new cases of COVID-19 in Latah County on Monday, crushing previous records for the number of daily cases.

For the next few weeks, school district officials will update counts on a daily basis instead of reporting new cases at the end of each week as it had been. According to Bailey, the school district will continue monitoring case data and communicating with local health agencies.

Palermo can be reached at apalermo@dnews.com or on Twitter @apalermotweets.