Students back in masks

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — The Teton County School board reversed itself last night at a regular meeting and has reinstated a mask mandate for all public schools in the district.

After a deadlocked vote (3-3) on January 1 failed to extend a face covering order at schools which expired at the end of 2021, absences due to illness jumped significantly among students and faculty at Colter and Munger elementary schools, and at the Middle School.

Superintendent Gillian Chapman cited numbers over the past week or so. They averaged about 8.5% absences due to COVID and about 14% absences due to non-COVID illness.

As a result, the board of trustees voted unanimously to reinstate a mask covering requirement for two weeks through January 26, at which time the board will reevaluate.

Omicron is everywhere

The spike coincides with the current surge in the community of Omicron. Positive test cases reached a milestone 1,052 in one week in Teton County. During this latest surge, which began in late-December, daily highs have been breaking records nearly every day—some 215 new cases recorded on January 10 alone. Previous daily highs during the original onset or Delta wave of COVID ranged in the 50s-70s in number.

As of January 12, 7,700 Teton County residents have been tested positive for COVID at some point. Nearly a third of us have had it.

And who is getting it now? Twenty-somethings lead the way, followed closely by those in the 30s.

School versus community goals

Much of the school board meeting digressed into a public health update with a chance for frightened and frustrated board members to try to get answers.

• Is this ever going away?
• Is Omicron just a flu or cold?
• If we wear masks do we do away with Test to Stay?

“Twenty-two months I was sitting next to Dr. [Paul] Beaupre and we agreed two weeks to flatten the curve. Now we are nearly three years into this and are we even still trying to get to herd immunity? What about the mental health impacts? I’ve never heard anyone talking about those,” Trustee Bill Scarlett said at Wednesday night’s meeting.

When asked how masks in school were going to help stop Omicron when kids spent most of their time elsewhere, probably without masks since there is no countywide mandate, Dr. Travis Riddell said, “The point I’ve been trying to make is that this is not something I see justified from a community spread standpoint. The point I’m trying to make is this is something justified from a ‘keeping schools open’ standpoint.”

The vast majority of infections right now are 20-40-year-olds. But the bars are open, trams are packed. All the studies show children are the least infected and yet we ask the most of them,” Scarlett wondered aloud.

Among the public comments taken—an overwhelming number of which were for making masks a choice—a 4th grader named Addie had her note read to the board. The meeting had extended past her bedtime. Addie has had to quarantine twice since kids returned from holiday break even though she is not feeling sick. It’s because she chose not to wear a mask or get vaccinated. That has made her feel “isolated and singled out” Addie said. “And that isn’t right.”

Another woman named Jessica asked the board members, “What is our realistic goal here? The reality is there are germs and people get sick especially every winter. To get zero people sick for the rest of their lives, is that what we are shooting for?”

In the end, trustees agreed the decision came down to keeping the doors open at school more so than what might slow the spread in the community.

With Public Health nurse Jodie Pond saying testing and vaccination centers are max capacity and falling behind even with six National Guardsmen on order, and Dr. Travis Riddell agreeing that the Test to Stay program of the district’s is very labor-intensive, the board agreed in unison to put masks back on for another two weeks at least.

“I’m fine to mask up for another month and try to cut down on the number we have to ‘Test to Stay.’ I still think that is a valuable program rather than have kids stay home,” trustee Kate Mead said. “Hopefully, we can also keep enough staff healthy to keep the doors open. That’s another goal.”

Trustee Alan Brumstead agreed, adding, “The issue is not the severity of sickness. We have a quarantine policy in place. Regardless of how you feel, you have to quarantine for that time [5 says with any positive test or exposure to COVID case if not masked or vax’d]. Anything you can do that will cut these numbers testing positive will keep more kids and more staff in our buildings.”