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November 17, 2020

News • November 17, 2020

COVID surge brings a request for an adaptive pause

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KANE COUNTY – A surge in COVID cases has not only led to calls for people to refrain from Thanksgiving holiday travel but for further restrictions on students in Kane County schools.

The Kane County Health Department (KCHD) is asking public and private schools to take an “adaptive pause” for the period of November 23 to December 4. Any of the Kane County districts using a hybrid learning system are asked to switch to remote learning, exclusively for this period of time. For a portion of this time frame, thousands of students will be home for Thanksgiving break.

Kane County Health Department Executive Director Barbara Jeffers also recommends athletics and other school activities be suspended at the same time. “Kane County’s positivity rate is 16.7 percent, based on data for the week ending November 7. Our case count is 563 cases per 100,000 population.  Over the weekend, the youth case count climbed over 628 per 100,000 population,” Jeffers said.  “Our hospitals are filling up and the numbers continue to surge.”

Rush Copley Medical Center President and CEO John Diederich understands the value of an adaptive pause. “An adaptive pause would help provide relief for hospitals from the surge of COVID patient admissions we are experiencing.”  Diederich remains hopeful about the recent momentum in vaccine development. “Our community needs to continue to adhere to proven measures like wearing masks and social distancing to help bend the curve again,” Diederich cautioned.

In a conversation with MyHuntleyNews.com, Kane County Regional Office of Education Superintendent Patricia Dal Santo offered advice to the school districts in Kane County.

“Look at what your metrics are showing locally and make informed decisions.” Dal Santo explained that some of the school districts in Kane County have been on remote learning. She says other districts are either hybrid or have been for the most part back in person though some families have opted for remote learning. “There is no evidence that the virus has been spreading within the schools.  What’s happening is that when it does  happen in the schools, it’s from community spread, not from being spread within the schools,” Dal Santo said.

The Illinois Department of Public Health says an adaptive pause “is a strategy that allows for movement into any level of remote learning to prevent disease transmission during a pandemic. An adaptive pause may result in delayed reopening at the start of a specific school term or a pivot to remote learning once the school year is underway for school officials to have time to plan for next steps with parents, teachers, and staff.”