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After a 12-day hiatus, Henrico County Public Schools has posted updated information on COVID-19 cases involving schools including approximately 474 new cases since the last update.
There have now been 579 cases among students and staff recorded since Sept. 1 — 286 at the elementary level, 125 in middle schools, 152 in high schools and program centers, and 16 in annexes. There are about 48,980 students and 7,160 full-time employees in the Henrico school division, according to the HCPS website.
Monday marks the first weekly COVID report from HCPS, after the division announced last week that it would shift from daily updates.
HCPS encountered issues with case data as it shifted a portion of contact tracing to the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts earlier this month. The school health services department began an audit of the data on Tuesday and the charts were offline for six days, though there were no updates for 12 days. At the time of the last update on Sept. 15, there were 105 cases reported from Sept. 1 - Sept. 15. (An additional 11 were reported before Sept. 1.)
Virginia school divisions are under no legal obligation to communicate school-related COVID-19 cases to the public. However, the Virginia Department of Education suggests reporting cases on division websites.
At the elementary level, there were 69 cases reported last week, resulting in 307 close contacts.
HCPS’ “close contact” rule was changed earlier this month, following guidance from the Virginia Department of Health. With the new rule, if an unvaccinated student is three feet or farther away from a COVID-19 infected student, and both students are properly wearing masks, that is no longer considered a close contact. This rule only applies for student-to-student situations.
Elementary schools with the highest number of close contacts last week were Pinchbeck Elementary with 45 and Highland Springs Elementary with 36. Since Sept. 1, there have been 751 close contacts in elementary schools. These students, who are too young to be vaccinated at this time, should have quarantined for eight, 10 or 14 days.
Starting in mid-September, the quarantine time was changed to 10 days instead of 14 days, based on state guidance. In another change, unvaccinated people who had close contact with an infected person can return to school eight days after exposure if the person tests negative five days or more after the exposure.
In the division’s 12 middle schools, there were 27 new cases reported on Monday, resulting in 388 close contacts. Middle schools producing the most close contacts were Short Pump Middle with 136 close contacts last week and Rolfe Middle with 103 reported from Sept. 17-24.
The division is not differentiating cases this year by factors such as whether they are related to athletics or extracurricular activities, according to Robin Gilbert, head of school health services.
“Last year the majority of HCPS athletes were virtual learners, so when we had a positive case, we had more certainty about the exposure,” said a statement provided by HCPS. “This year, with most athletes learning in person, there is more overlap with students who aren’t athletes, so it is cloudier and more difficult to make those differentiations.”
At the high school level, there were 28 cases reported last week, resulting in 934 close contacts. At the Advanced Career Education Center at Highland Springs, three cases resulted in 128 close contacts.
Division-wide, there have been 2,443 close contacts since Sept. 1 — 751 at the elementary level, 882 in middle schools, 785 in high schools and program centers, and 25 in annexes.
Henrico is now the largest school division in the state that updates cases on its public website weekly instead of daily. At a Henrico School Board meeting on Thursday, school officials said that the move to weekly updates is intended to help with accuracy and also relieve parents from getting bogged down with too many messages.
“We want to maintain the transparency we've always had, but also increase our accuracy,” said Superintendent Amy Cashwell.
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Anna Bryson is the Henrico Citizen's education reporter and a Report for America corps member. Make a tax-deductible donation to support her work, and RFA will match it dollar for dollar.
