Friday, April 23, 2021

School Operations Update 4.23.21

 Regular Order and the Threats to It

On Monday, all schools will return to full-day in-person instruction Monday through Thursday. This day has been a long time coming and I know that everyone is looking forward to it. There are so many signs that things may be returning to regular order. We've had great weather recently and we're all feeling a little relief from this past year.

However, you only need to look one county south to see that COVID is still with us. Cowlitz, Pierce and Whitman Counties were all downgraded to Phase 2 of the Governor's Healthy Washington Plan in the past week. This means that athletics returns to practice-only (no games) and physical distance at school returns to 6'. I read last night that Pierce County may be downgraded again to phase 1 in the coming weeks.

Lewis County Public Health and Social Services reported on Wednesday that Lewis County is in danger of being downgraded on May 3 when the next metrics review takes place. The county is currently at 220 new cases per 100,000 residents (200 is the maximum number over 2 weeks for Phase 3) and 8.7 hospitalizations (5 is the maximum for Phase 3). (April 21 Chronicle)  

Dr. Kevin Caserta is the site administrator for Providence Centralia and chief medical officer for Providence in Southwest Washington. He calls on all of us to do our part to fight the virus. He notes the increase in cases that he's seeing and calls on us to get vaccinated and continue masking, distancing and hand hygiene. Cases are up all over the U.S. (April 21 Chronicle)

Here's how you can help. If you haven't been vaccinated, please do so. If your children 16-18 haven't been vaccinated, consider getting them vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine. In addition to not getting sick, vaccinated people do not need to quarantine if they are close contacts. 


The reduction in social distancing recommendations is what has allowed us to return to school. This is predicated on keeping cases and hospitalizations low. It would be so sad if we needed to return to hybrid modes of instruction. Our kids need to be in school and we need to beat this virus. I have heard from so many parents that this is what their children are looking forward to. I've heard from so many in our community that athletics have made a huge difference in the well-being of their kids. As educators, we know that the best place for kids is in school with their friends and staff. Please do your part. 

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