Student quarantine numbers, hospitalizations lead to stricter mask policies in Lewis County schools

Sep. 23—LOWVILLE — Two Lewis County schools have changed their in-school masking rules after 218 children have been quarantined in only the second week of school and, for the first time, three students who tested positive have been hospitalized.

Those students did not have preexisting conditions.

South Lewis and Beaver River Central Schools have both notified parents that students will no longer be allowed to take their masks off while seated if they are less than six feet apart from each other, a change from the three-foot rule in place before school began. Unmasking will only be allowed if there is six feet or more between students.

Both schools had instituted modified versions of the mask requirements mandated by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Aug. 27, to the same guidelines that were effective against in-school spread of the virus last year.

The difference this year, however, is the delta variant and the community spread that is ticking up across the county.

Rapidly growing numbers of students out of school in quarantine and clusters of positive-testing students concentrated in certain classes led to the change.

Indoor masking "in motion" remains in effect, requiring everyone in the building to wear masks while in hallways, bathrooms and moving into and out of classrooms and common spaces.

"Mask breaks" will be allowed with teacher approval in both schools.

At Beaver River, temperature screening will take place again before students enter buses or buildings, and at South Lewis, masks must be at least two-ply to satisfy masking requirements.

Additionally, six feet of social distancing will once again be the norm in the cafeteria at Beaver River, where masks are not required while people are eating. Once the cafeteria is full, other spaces will be used as cafeteria annexes to ensure social distancing can be respected, according to a letter sent Friday to Beaver River families by Superintendent Todd Green.

"Unfortunately, over the past week, we have seen 10 COVID (positive) student cases resulting in isolation," said South Lewis Superintendent Douglas Premo in his letter to parents on Wednesday, "These 10 COVID (positive) cases have also placed well over 100 students in quarantine."

Mr. Premo added that a number of positive cases in the same grade was "raising our level of concern that transmission of COVID-19 may be occurring within our school."

The letter continued to say that the "flexible masking" practice that was intended to allow students to go most of the day without wearing a mask is sending the school "down a path that is leading towards the inevitable closure of school for in-person instruction and full remote learning for all."

Rather than let that happen, Mr. Premo and the board of education made the policy changes taking effect today.

Likewise, Mr. Green sent a letter to parents on Friday letting them know that a masking policy change would go into effect on Monday, citing a "serious rise in passive cases" in both the school and the surrounding towns of New Bremen and Croghan.

As of the end of the day on Friday, Beaver River had recorded a total of 90 students who had been quarantined throughout the week, up from 10 the first week of school. The vast majority of quarantined students were from the elementary school.

District wide, there were eight students who tested positive for COVID-19, all of whom were in the elementary school.

The new Beaver River protocol matches the protocol Mr. Green and some members of the board had intended for this year in response to the state's masking requirements, until a number of parents and a few board members railed against the mandate and the requirement for the students to wear their masks all day.

As a compromise, the board voted to allow masks to come off while seated, with three feet of social distancing. The board also agreed to revisit the policy if quarantine numbers started to grow.

Mr. Green emphasized that the goal of having every student in school every day could be thwarted if a COVID positive student or teacher resulted in the need to quarantine dozens of students, especially with the smaller distances between students.

Neither school has had to switch to a hybrid model of at-home and classroom learning.

Lewis County Manager Ryan Piche said that at the other end of the spectrum, the Howard G. Sackett Technical Center at the Glenfield campus of Jefferson-Lewis BOCES has had 11 positive cases of COVID but fewer than 20 students quarantined because of the "phenomenal job" they've done meeting mask and social distancing requirements.

"Masks reduce the amount of people we have to quarantine — that's a fact," Mr. Piche said. "If we're trying to keep kids in school, having them quarantined is not doing that."

According to state Department of Health regulations, quarantining is only required for students who have been less than six feet away from someone who tests positive for 15 minutes or more in a 24-hour period, if one or both people are not wearing masks.