Phase II Data and Decision-Making

September 17th, 2020 /
Caleb Price /
Coronavirus Disease 2019, News, Public Relations, Schools, Updates/Announcements

Provo City School District manually collects data each day regarding student absenteeism, teacher/staff absenteeism, and COVID cases that have been self-reported and reported to/by the Utah County Health Department.

We have completed a new page on the Provo City School District website (https://provo.edu/covid-19-updates/) that will display all of the charts and data we are both collecting and using to make decisions.

We meet in a daily Safety Committee to look at data and consider trends, spikes, etc. and subsequent interventions. We have school nurses who are part of the Utah County Health Department who advise and coordinate with us.

Several district administrators coordinate regularly with the Utah County Health Department (via Zoom, usually). Email communication with the Health department occurs several times per week.

Some people look at Provo data and assume it is synonymous with Provo City School District data. It is not. Provo City data includes large numbers coming from BYU, but our data looks only at COVID cases in our schools. The decision to move elementary schools to Phase 2 is due to the low numbers of cases seen in our schools. Additionally, we have seen that wearing masks and sanitizing is widely effective at preventing in-school transmission. These practices can, and will, be followed during Phase 2.

When looking at the data on the new webpage, please keep in mind that the data reported on 9/17, for example, is the actual data from 9/16. Due to the privacy of health information, we do not publish individual school data.

Also note that, quarantine is for people who are not sick and don’t have any symptoms of COVID-19, but who may have been exposed to it. This exposure may occur in the school setting, but more often occurs in the community. You may be asked by the school nurse or a contact tracer from the health department to quarantine for 14 days if you have been exposed to the virus. The quarantine keeps you away from others so you don’t infect someone else. As much as possible, you should stay home, not go near other people and watch for COVID-19 symptoms.

We also track and review available data from other Utah County school districts to the extent we have access to it. Please note that due to the dynamic nature of this pandemic, teachers, parents, and students should continue to be prepared to move between phases as necessary.