No masking in local schools required despite surge in COVID cases

Jan. 4—Despite a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases that has prompted some schools in the state to go online or mandate masks, area school districts have no plans to require masks when students return after the holiday break.

Classes begin today at Decatur City, Morgan County and Lawrence County schools, while students return to Limestone County, Hartselle City and Athens City schools Wednesday.

In Morgan County, 32% of all people tested in the last week have had the coronavirus, and the county is averaging about 110 new cases per day. The statewide positivity rate over the last week is 36%, with about 5,600 new cases per day.

As of Monday, there were 27 COVID patients at Decatur Morgan Hospital, up from 17 on Wednesday. Of the 27, one patient is on a ventilator and three are in intensive care. Sixteen of the 27 patients were unvaccinated, according to Judy Smith, public health administrator for the Alabama Department of Public Health's Northern District.

Decatur City Schools spokeswoman Elizabeth Gentle said there are currently no plans to implement a mask mandate. Superintendent Michael Douglas could not be reached for comment.

Hartselle Superintendent Dee Dee Jones is not planning on mandatory masking, closing schools, or any deviation from how her district has operated since August.

"Right now, we're going to follow the same protocols we've had since the school year started," Jones said. "We still encourage students and staff to wear masks to limit the spread (of COVID)."

No area schools have had mask mandates in place since early November, although students have been encouraged to wear masks, maintain social distance and wash hands frequently.

Morgan County Schools spokesman Jeremy Childers said the district will not know how many students have COVID until later in the week.

"We will remain diligent with the procedures we have in place at the moment," Childers said.

In Lawrence County, 43% of all people tested in the last week have been positive for the coronavirus and there have been an average of 22 new cases per day.

According to Lawrence County Superintendent Jon Bret Smith, "We're going to keep doing things like limiting visitors and social distancing to make sure that the spread is kept to a minimum."

He said the school system is striving to prevent school shutdowns from both COVID and influenza cases.

"When COVID-19 struck, we hired some part-time custodians and we plan to use them to keep the schools sanitized, especially with flu season now here," Smith said. "We've also hired extra substitutes this school year to make sure our classes are covered."

Smith said eight Lawrence County staff members tested positive over the break.

"I haven't been aware of any students who tested positive, but I'm sure there are several around," Smith said.

In Limestone County, the positivity rate over the last week is 31%, with about 85 new cases per day. Athens-Limestone Hospital reported 10 patients with COVID on Monday, up from six on Wednesday. Seven of the patients were unvaccinated, according to the hospital.

School-by-school basis

Limestone County Schools will follow the same protocols that have been in place since August. Spokeswoman Ashley Graves said they monitor each school individually and will only mandate masks at a specific school if 10% of the student population at that school tests positive.

"If we see a hot spot rise in the district, it's possible that we can place that specific school under a mask mandate without having to do the whole district," Graves said. "If a school reached 10%, we'd look at possibly mandating masks for a short period of time."

As of Dec. 16, 11 students and two staff members were infected at Limestone County Schools. Graves said they have not been monitoring cases since students and staff left for Christmas break.

"Once schools start back on Wednesday, then they'll start reporting again," Graves said.

Judy Smith suspects COVID cases are increasing in part because too few people are wearing masks.

"People, for whatever reason, are so resistant to masking and that is a concern," Smith said. "No matter what variant you're dealing with, sick is sick and some people are a lot sicker than others."

Smith said Alabamians have also been worse about social distancing since November.

"We had such relaxation," Smith said. "People were getting together and getting together without masks and, in the meantime, we had (the omicron variant) that came along that is clearly more contagious regardless of how sick it makes some people... . We are really letting our guard down."

Several school districts in the state — including Shelby County and Sylacauga — are delaying in-person classes until more time has elapsed after the holidays, according to The Associated Press, and others like Pike County are mandating masks for at least part of this month.

Testing kit shortages

Local pharmacies are reporting shortages of at-home COVID tests. Payless Pharmacy in Decatur is limiting COVID tests to four per customer.

"The first day we got those tests, we sold out," said Christina May, a pharmacist at Payless. "We've got them again, but it's first come, first serve. I don't know how many we have, but we're OK right now."

On Monday, Guice Pharmacy in Decatur was completely out of self-testing COVID tests.

"We have run out of both BinaxNow and QuickVue, which are the self-tests," said pharmacist Edward Guice. "The manufacturer is out and I don't know when they will be in."

Hospitals are being overwhelmed with people seeking COVID tests, according to Smith, an issue that is having Decatur Morgan Hospital consider making changes.

"We are seeing a lot of people coming to the (emergency room) for testing," said Noel Lovelace, vice president of development at Decatur Morgan Hospital. "We're working on some alternative testing sites."

Smith encourages people to go to their local health department for testing rather than the hospital.

"Hospitals have become so inundated with people coming for testing that we're trying to help them out so they can help those folks who need additional care and need hospitalization," Smith said.

More than 1,100 people were hospitalized statewide with COVID-19 on Monday, or more than 3.5 times as many as in mid-December.

About 36% of COVID-19 tests came back positive statewide over the last week — a high for the pandemic.

'Spreading like wildfire'

"Community transmission is just spreading like wildfire right now," said Dr. Sarah Nafziger, vice president of clinical support services with UAB Health System.

Less than 48% of the state's population is fully vaccinated, giving Alabama one of the nation's lowest vaccination rates despite months of work by health officials to promote the shots. With more than 16,450 dead of the illness, Alabama has the nation's third-highest death rate from COVID-19, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University.

The rolling average number of daily new cases has increased by about 5,004 over the past two weeks, a jump of about 630%. There were nearly 1,058 new cases per 100,000 people in Alabama over the past two weeks, which ranks 20th in the country for new cases per capita.

Hospitalizations aren't increasing as quickly as the overall COVID-19 case total, apparently because the highly contagious omicron variant doesn't make patients as sick as earlier versions of the virus, Nafziger said. But the latest surge is still straining health systems because of the large number of workers who are being exposed to the highly contagious variant or infected, she said.

Dr. Don Williamson, president of the Alabama Hospital Association, said the number of medical workers who are out because of COVID-19 or flu is "creating some staffing issues" at hospitals across the state.

"It's just a much more transmissible virus," Williamson said of the omicron variant. "I worry that as our cases continue to rise, we are going to see more and more people in the hospital, and it's going to happen when staffing was already challenging."

—wesley.tomlinson@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2438. The Associated Press contributed to this report.