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Hamilton County Schools to end phase tracker use the week of March 15

Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / A school bus waits to drop off students at the front entrance on the first day of school at Hixson Elementary School on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020 in Hixson, Tenn. Hamilton County Schools will enter phase 3 of its reopening plan next week, bringing most students back to the classroom.
Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / A school bus waits to drop off students at the front entrance on the first day of school at Hixson Elementary School on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020 in Hixson, Tenn. Hamilton County Schools will enter phase 3 of its reopening plan next week, bringing most students back to the classroom. Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / A school bus waits to drop off students at the front entrance on the first day of school at Hixson Elementary School on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020 in Hixson, Tenn. Hamilton County Schools will enter phase 3 of its reopening plan next week, bringing most students back to the classroom.

By Anika Chaturvedi 5 min read

Beginning the week of March 15, Hamilton County Schools will no longer use its “phase tracker,” a data-centered approach to the COVID-19 pandemic that has been used to provide weekly updates on community spread and make decisions about school openings and closings.

The phase tracker consists of four phases, with Phase 1 being the highest risk of spreading COVID-19 and Phase 4 having the lowest risk of community spread. The district updated the community on a biweekly and then weekly basis and moved between phases based on data such as the number of active COVID-19 cases in Hamilton County.

The district most recently moved into Phase 3 the week of Feb. 15-19, when all students except virtual learners returned to class full-time, five days a week, except for campuses with specific pandemic cases requiring at-home learning.

Phase 4, the lowest-risk phase, requires 371 or fewer cases in the community. The tracker listed the average daily active cases at 1,054 as of Wednesday.

There are several reasons for dropping the phase tracker, said Hamilton County Schools chief of staff and lead COVID-19 response coordinator Jennifer Bronson.