Hamilton County Schools will "strongly encourage" but not require students and staff to wear face masks when in-person learning resumes next month, despite rising COVID-19 cases, low vaccination rates and recommendations from leading medical organizations.
The American Academy of Pediatrics released new guidance for schools Monday, which recommends all students over 2 years old and staff wear masks, even if they have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - which is the agency both Hamilton County Health Department and local school officials say they turned to for help developing their classroom COVID-19 prevention policies - also updated its school recommendations in July.
The agency does not go as far as the pediatricians group in recommending universal face masks in school, but the CDC guidelines call for all unvaccinated students ages 2 and up and all unvaccinated staff to wear masks indoors. At this time, children under 12 are not eligible to receive any of the COVID-19 vaccines.
The guidelines also note that universal masking in schools may be necessary in places with low vaccination rates and increasing levels of community transmission, which are both the case in Hamilton County.
As of Friday, 42% of Hamilton County residents had been fully vaccinated, and Hamilton County Schools spokesperson Cody Patterson said via email that the district's "teacher vaccination rate is near 70%."
Nearly 25% of Hamilton County residents age 12-15 and 36% of those age 16-20 had been at least partially vaccinated as of Friday, according to data from the health department.
On Friday, the Hamilton County Health Department reported 120 new COVID-19 cases, marking the first time since March 19 that daily case reports approached that high of a level, according to a news release from the department.
Two days earlier, the health department held a news conference about the county's growing number of new coronavirus cases - particularly among people younger than 30 - and hospitalizations fueled by the more contagious delta variant.
"Last week, the average number of Hamilton County residents hospitalized each day was 10. This week, the daily average has increased to 31 Hamilton County residents hospitalized each day, highlighting a concerning trend," the Friday news release said.
In that same news release, Hamilton County Interim Health Officer Dr. Fernando Urrego emphasized the importance of "assuring that students are able to attend school in-person."
"In order for a safe return, COVID-19 prevention strategies are critical to protect individuals, especially in areas of high transmission levels," Urrego said.
The science is clear as to what those prevention strategies should look like: vaccination, indoor masking for the unvaccinated, maintaining physical distance when possible, testing, ventilation, hand washing, disinfecting, staying home when sick and contact tracing in combination with quarantine and isolation.
"When it is not possible to maintain a physical distance of at least 3 feet, such as when schools cannot fully reopen while maintaining these distances, it is especially important to layer multiple other prevention strategies, such as indoor masking," the CDC guidelines state. "Many schools serve children under the age of 12 who are not eligible for vaccination at this time. Therefore, this guidance emphasizes implementing layered prevention strategies (e.g., using multiple prevention strategies together consistently) to protect people who are not fully vaccinated, including students, teachers, staff, and other members of their households."
While fatal COVID-19 illness in children is rare, children can still get infected, spread the coronavirus, become seriously ill, experience lingering effects or disability and die. The long-term effects of COVID-19 in children are also still not fully known or understood.
The CDC is continuing to investigate the connection between COVID-19 infection in children and multi-system inflammatory syndrome, a condition in which different body parts can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes or gastrointestinal organs.
"We do not yet know what causes [multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children]. However, we know that many children with [the syndrome] had the virus that causes COVID-19, or had been around someone with COVID-19. [The syndrome] can be serious, even deadly, but most children who were diagnosed with this condition have gotten better with medical care," the CDC website states.
Shelby County Schools, Tennessee's largest school system, is the only public school district in the state to announce a face mask requirement for all students and staff, regardless of vaccination status.
Officials cited the rising toll of the delta variant in their announcement this week.
Like Hamilton County, Metro Nashville Public Schools recently announced that students and staff will be strongly encouraged but not required to wear masks. However, The Tennessean reported this week that some parents are calling on the district to reconsider its mask protocol.
More than 100 community members had signed a petition calling for the district to reinstate mask mandates for the upcoming school year as of Tuesday afternoon, according to The Tennessean.
Contact Elizabeth Fite at efite@timesfreepress.com or follow her on Twitter @ecfite.