Citing a rise in COVID-19 cases, State College Area School District will remain in district-wide remote learning until Jan. 11, Superintendent Bob O’Donnell wrote in a message to families on Wednesday.
‘This was a difficult decision for us because we truly believe in-person learning is best for our students,’ O’Donnell wrote. ‘However, during the last couple of weeks, the spread of COVID-19 in our community has continued to worsen, and the epidemiologists on our team expect conditions to further decline.’
State College public schools have been remote since classes resumed after Thanksgiving break, a decision made before the holiday largely due to staff shortages resulting from isolation and quarantine.
Now, O’Donnell said, the reason for staying remote has shifted to a rise in COVID-19 cases locally and within the school district, community spread and concern about local hospital capacity.
‘The virus is now infecting our students, employees and families at its highest rate so far this year,’ he wrote.
Through the first 92 days of the school year, SCASD had a total of 48 COVID-19 positives among students and employees. In the last 10 days the district has had 49. Employee and student cases since the start of the school year have been almost evenly split, with 48 among employees and 49 among students.
Random employee testing through the end of November had yielded just one positive out of 304 tests, but in the past week 380 tests resulted in seven positives, a positivity rate of about 2%.
‘This rate for asymptomatic testing was concerning to our health and safety team,’ O’Donnell wrote.
Testing by community health providers Mount Nittany Health, Penn State Health and Geisinger also has raised concerns, according to O’Donnell. Their current seven-day positivity average is 27%, compared to 6% during a previous high point in October.
Mount Nittany Medical Center has seen a continued rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations and as of Tuesday had 36 COVID-positive inpatients. In November, the hospital admitted 143 COVID-19 patients, two and a half times as many as in October.
While most students have been remote since Thanksgiving, the district has operated instructional support centers for students receiving special education services, as well as support centers for K-6 children of frontline healthcare workers. Those will remain open through Dec. 23 and more information will be provided to families about plans for January.
The is the second time SCASD has been in district-wide remote learning for an extended period since the academic year began. School buildings were closed for three weeks in September amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in the Centre Region corresponding with the return of Penn State students.
‘To conclude on a positive note, our epidemiologists and physicians also expressed hope for our schools in the future,’ O’Donnell wrote. ‘A COVID-19 vaccine could start to be distributed soon, and that will begin our return toward normal — a reason to be optimistic for a better year ahead.’
