HCPS Health Committee weighing data, other input for in-person return

The timing of a return to in-person learning for Henrico Public Schools students will depend in part upon a number of key data-based metrics, members of the HCPS Health Committee told the Henrico School Board during a work session Thursday. But the committee also will weigh other factors, such as feedback from teachers who will work with small groups of students in person during the first nine weeks of class, they said.

The committee is composed of Henrico Health District representatives, community experts, members and chair of the School Health Advisory Board and school system staff. It’s using a number of indicators to determine the safety of returning to school in person, including a regional “burden” metric from the Virginia Department of Health, said Dr. Melissa Viray, the deputy director of the Henrico and Richmond health districts.

The burden metric is a composite of differently weighted measures from Central Virginia localities, including:

• the number of new cases by day;
• the percent positivity (how well the area is testing and how many cases are being detected);
• the number of outbreaks;
• how affected the local healthcare system is.

When each of those measures hits a determined threshold, it adds points to the overall burden score. Currently, that score for the central region is 16.0 on a scale of 24, which places it in the “substantial burden” range – the highest and riskiest of the four ranges. Health officials are not able to calculate a burden risk specific to Henrico County individually, Viray said, but the committee can and does look at the available individual measures for Henrico.

The Henrico case incidence data is updated daily, she said, and the committee also checks the Henrico-specific 7-day percent positivity rate of new cases, as well as outbreaks data for Henrico, she said.

“For Henrico, as of [Aug.] 24th, while we did see a recent peak, we are starting to see perhaps some suggestion that we might have been coming down on the other side of the peak,” Viray said of case incidences, which were shown in moving averages.

The VDH also measures trends, Viray said, and that regional metric is updated weekly. Trends are scored on a scale of 22, with a score above 15 being increasing. The central region’s current score is 12.6, which is considered fluctuating.

The health committee will use the case incidence rate per 100,000; percent positivity; and outbreaks per 100,000 metrics; the availability of personal protective equipment; and staff considerations to consider reopening approaches, Henrico School Health Supervisor Robin Gilbert told board members.

Though most students will learn virtually during the first nine weeks, school system officials are aiming to offer in-person learning for various small groups of students by the third week of classes, Superintendent Amy Cashwell said. Those groups include students with individualized education programs, or IEPs, and English-learners, among others. Families should hear details from their schools, she said.

The health committee will meet every two weeks, and in addition to state data also will be reviewing daily attendance rates and weighing the input of those teachers who will be leading the various in-person classes during the first nine weeks.

The committee will present its recommendation for the second nine weeks of school by the Board’s Oct. 22 meeting.

System facing PPE acquisition challenges
Since July 15, the school system has had 24 confirmed cases of the virus, Gilbert told board members, in response to a question from Tuckahoe District member Marcie Shea.

Sixty-five employees are being tracked, meaning they were either positive for COVID-19 or placed in self-isolation, Gilbert said. Employees who test negative five to seven days after exposure remain out for 14 days, which is the symptom-based approach the school system and health department have chosen rather than requiring two negative tests.

A big challenge that could hinder the possibility of in-person classes during the second nine weeks of school is the personal protective equipment supply, Teigen said – particularly the challenge of obtaining gloves and N95 masks. School system officials want a minimum of four weeks’ worth of supplies in order to ensure they can reorder supplies in time.

“We have struggled with some of the PPE where we’ll have a promised date of delivery, and then that will come and go and we’ll have a new date,” HCPS Chief of Staff Beth Teigen said, even ordering in bulk.

HVAC systems are being evaluated because not all systems can be integrated with the newest technology, Chief of Operations Lenny Pritchard said in response to Shea’s question about the possibility of implementing MERV 13 filters, which filter a high percentage of particles.

The construction and maintenance team has maximized air flow in buildings, Teigen said.

The Henrico and Richmond health districts have completed training contact tracers, Viray said, but are still hiring case investigators, who identify and investigate patients with confirmed and probable cases, according to the CDC website. The districts have bilingual contact tracers and case investigators who speak Spanish, she said.