For the week ending Friday, January 14, Evanston/Skokie School District 65 and Evanston Township High School District 202 reported a combined 593 new positive cases of COVID-19 among students. This number represents about 5.5% of the total of 10,802 students enrolled in both districts.
ETHS alone recorded 311 new positive students during the week, while District 65 saw 288 students test positive over the same period. 105 employees also tested positive between the two districts.
While transmission of the virus is high throughout the community, the worst outbreaks in District 65 are currently concentrated in Chute and Haven High Schools and Oakton, Walker, Washington and Willard Elementary Schools. District 65 began second semester classes with a remote learning day on Monday, January 10, but all buildings reopened for in-person instruction on January 11. ETHS students returned to the classroom January 10 for the first time since December 16, when the district announced an “adaptive pause” to face-to-face learning due to COVID-19 case rates.
With increased transmission of the virus in Evanston, ETHS also began mandatory weekly testing for all students, regardless of vaccination status, on January 11. District 65 has tested all students once a week since the start of the school year in September 2021. Parents of students in each district had to complete an exclusion form to exempt any of their children from the weekly testing protocol.
In early January, ETHS and District 65 also adopted new guidance from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control that shortened mandatory quarantines for students who test positive or who are not fully vaccinated and exposed to someone with a confirmed positive case of COVID-19. 19. With these new guidelines, students who fall ill with the virus can return to the classroom after five days of isolation, instead of 10 days, as long as they have no symptoms and fever after five days.
Despite the record number of new cases among students, both districts said they remain committed to continuing in-person classes as planned, in line with safety recommendations from the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Evanston Department of Health and Human Services.
“These next few weeks will inevitably be difficult as the omicron continues to rise and as healthcare guidelines rapidly evolve. We remain committed to maximizing safety in our schools and continuing to provide face-to-face learning as directed by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE),” wrote District 65 Superintendent Dr. Devon Horton in a Jan. 7 message to students. and families. . “That said, we must be prepared to adapt and implement updated guidance and potentially enter Adaptive Pauses as health conditions warrant.”
Meanwhile, Evanston as a whole has consistently reported record new daily COVID-19 cases in recent weeks. The city reported a record 273 new cases on Thursday, January 13, and another 134 cases on Friday, January 14. The seven-day rolling average of new daily positives is now 121.
However, many parents and community members strongly believe that the closure of in-person school buildings amid the omni wave will end up doing more harm than good, especially with a large percentage of students and teachers vaccinated and/or reinforced against COVID-19. .
“Everyone is different. It’s going to affect everyone in a different way, and I think we have to have a little faith in science,” said Angelique Ketzback, an Evanston resident and ETHS mother. “We have to have a little faith in vaccines, and I think this age group (K-12 school) is not at high risk.”
