Unlike the first three COVID-19 surges in Oklahoma, children and adolescents have shouldered the disease load this summer as the delta variant sweeps through the state.
Public school districts were prohibited from mandating masks by Gov. Kevin Stitt and the Republican-controlled Legislature as students returned to classrooms in August. The 17-and-younger demographic comprised 17.4% of weekly reported cases, rising rapidly to 30.0% by Sept. 4.
Three public school districts and three charter schools defied the new law, and a district court judge temporarily blocked it with an injunction Sept. 8.
In total, at least 25 public school districts, eight charter schools and one tribally-operated school now have implemented at least some level of masking requirements.
Tulsa Public Schools, which started the year with a masking expectation for students and staff, began requiring families to opt out in writing starting Sept. 7, the day before the temporary injunction took effect.
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By Sept. 18, the 17-and-younger demographic’s weekly share of COVID-19 cases dropped to 24.5%.
Dr. Jennifer Clark said during her COVID-19 update Wednesday for Project ECHO that she’s uncertain whether the decline is an actual downward trend or might pop back up. At least, Clark said, it didn’t “take off in an exponential way” that had concerned public health experts.
“We are seeing a nasty trend up with those kids taking on the biggest burden of cases with this delta variant,” Clark said. “With the first surge and second and third surge being about adults, this fourth surge was really about kids and kids really taking the burden of the disease.”
To date, more than 60 school districts across Oklahoma have had to suspend in-person classes at at least one campus during the 2021-2022 school year due to the high rates of COVID-19 cases and exposure-induced quarantines among staff and students.
That number does not include Anadarko’s Riverside Indian School. The Bureau of Indian Education facility started the school year in distance learning and will not begin face-to-face instruction until Oct. 25 due to the pandemic.
From July 11 to Sept. 18, there were 29,077 confirmed cases in the 17-and-younger demographic. Of those, 233 were hospitalized and one person died.
Unfortunately, Clark said, a high number of kids remain hospitalized with COVID-19.
“Unvaccinated people are the highest risk, regardless of age,” Clark said. “This is why little kids are hospitalized right now — because they’re a high-risk, vulnerable population that’s not eligible for a vaccine.”
Clark said she was excited by the Oklahoma State Department of Health’s announcement of an optional COVID testing program available for school districts.
“Being able to test them widely is going to be really helpful for our community to identity, quarantine and isolate so that we don’t cause a massive outbreak,” Clark said.
OSDH announced an optional testing program Sept. 16 — about a month into the fall semester. The effort is funded through a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grant and includes faculty too.
Deputy Health Commissioner Keith Reed noted that districts also can apply for reimbursement of other public health needs, such as personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies and air-filtration systems.
To opt in, school districts must submit a plan to make good-faith efforts to test at least 10% of their enrollments each month — but the testing need not be random, according to Carolyn Thompson, deputy chief of staff for the Oklahoma State Department of Education.
Kathy Dodd, OSDE chief innovation officer, added that districts can use grant funds to hire nurses or health-related personnel to help with tasks such as contact tracing or data entry.
Oklahoma health officials said as of Friday, 60 school districts applied for the COVID-19 surveillance program, with 40 having already received testing supplies.
Tulsa Public Schools had already secured opt-in testing for students by contracting with an out-of-state entity.
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Districts have to opt into the voluntary program, and parents may opt their students out.
