Pierce County Health Warns Schools It Is Not Safe To Reopen

PIERCE COUNTY, WA — Schools across Pierce County may not be able to reopen for in-person classes after all, and some have already announced that they will not.

On Thursday, Dr. Anthony Chen, Director of Health for the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, issued a letter to superintendents of districts across the county, warning them that it is not currently safe to reopen classrooms for in person learning in the fall.

"Based on the COVID-19 disease activity in Pierce County and our region, I do not feel it is safe to open schools in September for traditional classroom learning," Chen said. "The situation could change, and I may change my recommendation at a later date. I am offering this recommendation at this time to respect our local school districts’ needs to plan and make decisions to have time to implement."

The announcement comes amid a surge of coronavirus cases across Washington state, but one that has been especially pronounced in Pierce County.

Shortly after Dr. Chen sent the letter, the Puyallup school district announced they would not be resuming in person lessons in the fall, and other districts could be following suit soon.

The director says schools should still consider planning for onsite or hybrid models, so they could potentially resume in-person lessons later in the school year.

"We want to make sure schools are prepared to return to in-classroom learning when we see less COVID-19 circulating in our community," said Chen.

The latest announcement is a reversal from the policy set earlier this summer. Shortly after the first peak of the pandemic, the Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal announced that schools were to begin planning as if they would resume in-person lessons in the fall, but as the coronavirus began to surge over the past few weeks, several school districts like Seattle, Northshore, Bellevue and Kent all announced that they would not be resuming in person instruction. Now, it looks like more school districts across Pierce County will be following suit.

Experts say that's in the best interest of public safety. While the safety of students is a large concern for health officials, they also warn that transmissions of the virus among students will not just stay within schools.

"While COVID-19 is not thought to effect children as much as adults, children add to the spread of transmission," writes Chen. "Reopening for in person instruction can cause community transmission to increase and case numbers to grow. It can also put our education professionals and school support staff at risk."

The move comes amid a surge in coronavirus cases that has forced other rollbacks and regulations. Currently, counties are not allowed to move forward to new phases or reopen any more business and Thursday, Gov. Inslee announced new rules limiting service at restaurants and bars to tamp down on transmissions.

Related: University Of Washington Moves More Fall Courses Online