Elena Choi, 5, puts on her mask as she starts kindergarten during the first day of school Aug. 9, 2021, at Hannah Marie Brown Elementary School in Henderson.
Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021 | 2 a.m.
After at least one positive COVID-19 test last week at Legacy High School in North Las Vegas, Clark County School District officials pulled the plug on the football program’s initial week of games.
The Longhorns’ freshman, junior varsity and varsity teams were scheduled to play Faith Lutheran today and Friday. They are part of 11 games over three sports canceled because of positive tests, said Tim Jackson, director of athletics for the School District.
And on Monday, officials at Frank Lamping Elementary School in Henderson announced they would revert to remote learning for 10 days because they were dealing with an outbreak. In a note announcing the decision to families, Principal Robert Solomon didn’t indicate whether the outbreak was among students or staff — or both. He also didn’t say how many in the Lamping community had the virus or had been in close contact with someone who had the virus.
Here’s the unfortunate truth: At least two schools in separate parts of Southern Nevada have experienced COVID-related interruptions. One of those schools educates teenagers; another is for pre-teen and younger children. And the school year, where students are attending full-time and in person, is just 9 days old.
Children being hospitalized and dying from the virus is extremely rare. There have been just 10 deaths attributed to COVID-19 among people ages 0-19 in Nevada since the outset of the pandemic in March 2020. “But with children we are often concerned with them being the link in the chain (in spreading the virus),” said Brian Labus, a professor at the UNLV School of Public Health and an expert on communicable disease surveillance.
About 300,000 Clark County School District students started the school year Aug. 9, returning to learning in the classroom after most of the 2020-21 academic year was conducted digitally. In the final weeks of the previous school year, some students were taught in a hybrid model, where they were on campus two days a week and on their computers at home the remainder of the school week.
The new school year, with the coronavirus vaccine available to everyone age 12 and up, was designed to be hosted on campus. But only 969,285 (45.26%) of Clark County residents are fully vaccinated, which has contributed to the virus surging over the past month with emergence of the delta variant.
Among Nevadans ages 12 to 17, 99,306 — just under 43% of that age group — are fully vaccinated, according to the Nevada Health Response. Figures aren’t available on the number of vaccinated CCSD students, but when you consider there are 50 high schools — some with more than 3,000 students — and 60 middle schools, it’s likely less than half.
It appears the surge has reached classrooms here. There have been 351 self-reported cases of COVID-19 among students and staff since Aug. 1 in the School District, including 262 children, according to CCSD data. A total of 124 elementary school students — those not yet eligible for the vaccine — have tested positive, according to CCSD.
Those are self-reported cases, meaning more kids could be positive, especially considering some children who are infected have no symptoms and are walking around unknowingly infected, Labus said.
Solomon wrote to Lamping parents that officials consulted with the Southern Nevada Health District before making the decision to return to online education. He wasn’t available for an interview because he was busy leading the transition back to online learning, a CCSD spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said CCSD didn’t have set guidelines on how many cases of the virus, or individuals in close contact with someone who is positive, are required to close a school to in-person learning. It’s the same with canceling athletic events, as many prep football coaches this week expressed uneasiness when their players went through the required COVID testing because they didn’t know if a single positive test could also eliminate their game.
The district spokesperson said such decisions would be handled on a case-by-case basis and in coordination with the Health District, because no two situations are the same with the pandemic.
To confuse matters further, CCSD’s coronavirus dashboard still lists Lamping as having no cases, although officials say the data isn’t updated in real time and involves many steps to make it current. Because the data is self-reported, there could be students or staff out with the virus that the district isn’t aware of — it is a district with nearly 400 schools.
“Adding COVID-19 and the delta variant has added extra stress to the system,” Superintendent Jesus Jara said last week. “However, we have always been focused on the best decisions for the safety and the wellness of our students and our staff, following the guidance of our medical experts.”
Medical experts like Labus and those at the Health District are stressing the wearing of masks by children and staff to limit the virus spread. Masking is also a state requirement for all public indoor places, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That mandate has been met with pushback by some parents, a few of who protested last week during the Clark County School Board meeting. Despite the uproar, there was no consideration to loosen the guideline.
Labus said asking someone to wear a mask at school wasn’t about giving up personal freedom. Rather, he said, it’s about “limiting the transmission in a community because COVID can spread when you are sick or when you are simply talking. That’s why we want to mask all the time.”
CCSD appears to be determined to push forward with in-person learning, especially after some children fell behind — socially and academically — during the virtual year of 2020-21. District officials continue to take safety steps recommended by the Health District like practicing social distancing and disinfecting classrooms.
After the lost fall sports season in 2020-21, Jackson said athletes and school officials were pulling in the same direction to follow health protocols — including weekly COVID testing for athletes — to have a complete season. Desert Oasis and Spring Valley play tonight in the initial varsity football game of the season involving CCSD schools.
“The No. 1 thing everyone needs to know is everyone in CCSD, from health services to the lowest coach on the ‘B’ team, is doing everything they can to play,” Jackson said.
Jackson said there was no set standard on what has to occur for a game to be canceled or for a sports program to be paused out of virus concerns. Each situation is unique and examined separately with guidance from health officials, he said.
Jackson added, “You tell an athlete they have to jump 5 feet (to play), and they will jump six.”
When you are managing more than 300,000 students and 40,000 staff, and with a raging virus in the heavy-hit metro area, it’s important to remember “the virus is on its own timeline, not ours,” Labus said.
