Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
Two days after releasing its COVID-19 mitigation guidelines for schools, the Bucks County Health Department revised the information to recommend all students wear masks.
Bucks County Health Department Director Dr. David Damsker said the change came as hospitals on Tuesday provided new information that severe pediatric COVID-19 cases could overwhelm children’s hospitals in the region. He said those hospitals already have limited room unrelated to COVID-19 and concern about stress on the system exists.
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The county maintains the point of view that it can’t mandate schools require to masking, but the recommendations have played a major role in schools’ decisions.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended “universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status. Children should return to full-time in-person learning in the fall with layered prevention strategies in place.”
The county said the rest of COVID-19 guidance for schools released on Sunday will remain.
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There has been some backlash from county parents over Damsker’s decisions around masking and contact tracing at local schools.
While COVID-19 has impacted less children than adults, cases have risen in recent weeks, especially in places where vaccination rates are low. National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins said on Fox News Sunday that more than 400 kids have died of COVID-19 and the new variant puts youngsters at further risk.
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The county health department “unequivocally recommends” everyone eligible gets vaccinated.
While kids over the age of 12 can get vaccinated, those under that age are unable to get vaccinated for COVID-19 at this point.
The county health department will not be handling contact tracing this year for schools at first, but they noted they may return to contact tracing in some cases. Contact tracing for close-living facilities, the correctional system, and nursing homes will continue.
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Below is the full statement from Damsker:
From the beginning of the pandemic, the Bucks County Health Department has worked collaboratively with our schools and hospitals to gather data and develop sensible guidance for our community. The guidance issued most recently to the schools was done in partnership with the district superintendents and was designed to allow the districts to make decisions based on data provided to them by the Health Department. While our cases have increased in Bucks over the past few weeks, our hospitalizations and deaths have not risen in a corresponding way. Our hospitals have effectively handled the rise in cases.
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Just today, however, the partnership we have with our hospitals has given us new information which causes us to update our previous recommendations.
Even under normal circumstances, hospitals in Bucks County have limited ability to treat severe pediatric cases of any type. As our hospitals must refer all serious cases to pediatric specialty hospitals in the region, many of those same specialty pediatric hospitals are already operating at close to capacity because of non-COVID illnesses and staffing issues. While our COVID-19 cases among school-aged children remain very low, hospitals are growing concerned that any pediatric COVID-19 cases could stress the system.
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Because of this, hospitals in Bucks County have recommended that schools begin the fall semester with a mask requirement.
As a result of this new information provided by our partner hospitals, we support their recommendation to follow CDC guidance on masking in schools. This is particularly important for students who are unvaccinated, which includes all students under 12. We continue to urge, in the strongest possible sense, that everyone get vaccinated.
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The remainder of the county’s recently released guidance remains in effect. The Health Department will continue as an active partner with our schools and hospitals as we navigate through this ongoing fight.
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