N.J. school reopening plan includes 4-color, 6-region coronavirus outbreak monitoring system – NJ.com
With New Jersey schools set reopen to a mix of in-person and remote classes in the coming weeks, the state will use a color-coded, regionalized monitoring system to track the coronavirus outbreaks.
The goal is to “provide guidance to provide a safe environment for students, teachers, and staff,” state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said Wednesday during the state’s latest coronavirus briefing in Trenton.
The state unveiled the system as Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order clearing the way for New Jersey schools and colleges to reopen for in-person classes in the fall, while giving districts the option to stay closed and offer remote learning if they certify they can’t meet the state’s requirements to reopen.
Under the monitoring system, New Jersey’s schools will be divided into six regions, similar to how official monitor the flu, so officials can respond to “the local characteristics” of schools, Persichilli said. The regions include:
- Northwest: Morris, Passaic, Sussex, and Warren counties
- Northeast: Bergen, Essex, and Hudson counties
- Central-west: Hunterdon, Mercer, and Somerset
- Central-east: Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, and Union
- Southwest: Camden, Gloucester, Burlington and Salem
- Southeast: Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland
There will be four color-coded categories — green, yellow, orange, and red — “depending on the community risk and transmission,” Persichilli said.
“Where a regional falls in the color-coding categories is based on three criteria that are scored numerically and updated weekly,” she said. The three criteria are:
- Number of cases in the past week in each region.
- The percent positivity for tests in the last week.
- ”Syndromic surveillance” in the past week.
The federal Centers for Disease Control defines syndromic surveillance as in-patient and clinical care data. Though Persichilli was not more specific, the state has been publicly tracking hospitalization numbers for coronavirus patients since April.
“This regionalized system will provide a view of transmission more locally and help inform decisions on the ground,” Persichilli said. “The risk assessment provides guidance for the local health departments.”
Schools that fall in the green, yellow, and orange categories will require students and staff to stay home when sick, or if they’ve been in close contact with someone with COVID-19 in the last 14 days, the commissioner said.
“If a child becomes sick at school and it is suspected to be COVID-19-related, the child should be isolated immediately and then sent home as soon as possible,” Persichilli said. “It is advised that the child see a health-care provider for evaluation on whether testing is needed.”
The guidelines will provide tools for parents to screen children, districts to screen staff members when they arrive to work and for how to report illnesses during the day. They will also provide resources for rapid testing when a student or staff member develop symptoms, as well as guidance for how to clean surfaces at least once a day, make sure supplies are available, and implement social distancing and mask measures.
Persichilli did not describe the red category.
Murphy said complete guidance is still being “hammered out” and should be available no later than Thursday.
CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage
New Jersey on Wednesday announced 484 more coronavirus cases and nine more deaths.
Those numbers are down significantly since peaking in mid-April, when state officials were announcing hundreds of new deaths and thousands of new cases a day.
The Garden State has now reported 15,885 known deaths — 14,046 confirmed and 1,839 considered probable — with 185,938 known cases, since the first positive test here was announced March 4.
The state’s latest rate of transmission is 0.92, a slight drop from the number reported Tuesday. The goal, officials say, is to keep the rate under 1 — which means that each newly infected person is spreading the virus to fewer than one other person. Anything above that mark means the virus is expanding.
The rate rate hit a four-month high Aug. 2, at 1.49, but has fallen incrementally since then.
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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.