SCHOOL DISTRICTS POSTPONE IN-PERSON K-3 AS LANE COUNTY NUMBERS SURGE

SCHOOL DISTRICTS POSTPONE IN-PERSON K-3 AS LANE COUNTY NUMBERS SURGE

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The most recent spike in covid-19 cases brings new concerns for public health officials.

And it's created an urgent situation for officials in the fern ridge and crow-applegate- lorane school districts.

Kezi 9 news reporter emma withrow joins us live in the studio to break down the series of unfortunate events that unfolded.

Emma?

That rising number of coronavirus cases in lane county has forced those two school districts to halt the first day of in-person classes for students in kindergarten through third grade... which was supposed to start today.

In notices posted to district websites late monday night, officials with the fern ridge school district and crow- applegate-lorane said state requirements to return to in-person classes are no longer being met.

According to public health guidelines, for k-3 classes to resume in-person, the county must have a test positivity rate of no more than 5% and fewer than 30 cases per 100,000 people.

We've learned that lane county's latest metric is 30.6 per 100,000 and a positivity rate of 5.2%.

Barely above the maximum guidelines.

We were really blindsided by those counts, we knew they were climbing but we didn't think we'd have an immediate stop, so if the numbers improve we'll bring kids back on and we'll be on our original plan... but until then we're scrambling.

Mcrae said their school district got caught in the technicality of these state health requirements.

He says that's because of their start date being today... after the new numbers came out.

If they would have started yesterday like other school districts in our area, they wouldve been able to keep kids in the classroom... at least in the transition to shut down if the numbers dont improve.

The fern ridge school district will be hosting a community zoom meeting at 5:30 open to the public to give parents a better understanding of what is going on.

I'll report what i learn from the meeting at 6:00.

Live in the studio