INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -
Dozens of Indiana school districts are changing in-person learning schedules
or sending students home as the state continues to report record increases
in new coronavirus infections and hospitalizations.
Many schools are
having trouble staying open due to the growing number of teachers and
students who are sick or quarantined, Indiana health commissioner Dr.
Kristina Box said during a news conference Wednesday.
While Indiana Gov.
Eric Holcomb has insisted that mask-wearing and social distancing “are
proven to work,” so schools can remain open for in-person instruction, Box
expressed more caution: “One way or the other, things will shut down and
decrease if we don’t take proactive action now.”
All schools in
Marion County, which includes Indianapolis, are required to close and return
to virtual instruction by the end of the month, Indianapolis Mayor Joe
Hogsett announced Thursday. Schools are encouraged to close sooner, if
possible, and instruction will remain online until at least Jan. 15.
Indianapolis
students have been testing positive for coronavirus infections at triple the
rate they were a couple of months ago, said Dr. Virginia Caine, director of
the Marion County Public Health Department. Tracing has not uncovered
significant infection spread in schools, but it has become more difficult to
control.
“When your
community spread is rising so rapidly and getting at higher numbers, then it
is not the same safe environment in our schools that we had prior to this,”
Caine said.
Administrators at
Hamilton Southeastern Schools, 20 miles northeast of Indianapolis, made a
similar announcement Wednesday that all students in grades 7-12 will go
“100% virtual” through the start of winter break. The district has reported
146 coronavirus cases and 1,638 related quarantines among students and staff
since Oct. 19.
Beginning next
week, students in Munster in northwestern Indiana will also transition to
virtual learning through early December. School Town of Munster
Superintendent Jeff Hendrix noted increased positivity rates and staffing
challenges as more district employees are required to quarantine.
“With this, it is
difficult to staff all in-person classrooms on a daily basis,” Hendrix said.
The Indiana State
Department of Health reported more than 2,200 new cases of COVID-19 in
schools in its weekly data release on Monday, bringing the statewide total
to more than 8,500 cases among students, teachers and staff since the start
of the school year.
As of Monday, 1,589
schools have had at least one confirmed case of COVID-19, with more than 100
of those schools reporting a case for the first time this week. An
additional 353 schools have not reported any cases, and 424 schools have yet
to report their data to the state.
Small and rural
school districts are also closing school doors.
Gov. Holcomb said
Wednesday that he would reinstate some coronavirus restrictions after
several weeks of refusing to take action. The new steps will limit social
gathering sizes and decrease spectator capacity at indoor K-12 events in
counties designated by the state health department as higher-risk for
coronavirus spread. The Republican governor decided in September to lift
nearly all of Indiana’s business and crowd size restrictions. Since then,
hospitals have seen a 200% increase in COVID-19 patients and the seven-day
rolling average of deaths has jumped from 10 a day to 38.