On Jan. 10, the seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate in Loudoun County was 34.4%, a 6.7% increase from Jan. 3, according to data from the Virginia Department of Health. The rate was 8.5% higher than the seven-day rate for the U.S.

At the LCPS School Board meeting the next day, Jan. 11, Superintendent Scott Ziegler reviewed the new CDC guidelines issued on Jan. 6 and how it would affect LCPS policies. The newest change is the shortened isolation and quarantine period from ten days to five days for students and staff who test positive or are identified as a close contact. Ziegler also outlined the county’s plans to combat both the virus and staff shortage with the main goal of avoiding a county-wide shift to virtual learning.  

In March 2021, the Virginia law Chapter 456 was enacted by the Va. General Assembly, which requires school board members to provide in-person learning to students enrolled in their school division for five days a week. For LCPS, this means that in-person instruction can be temporarily stopped due to COVID-19, but the time spent in virtual learning must be limited to meet the standards set by the state. 

“We are seeing an uptick in infections in our community, and that is causing some staffing difficulties,” Ziegler said. “[Chapter 456] gives us limited authority to close certain schools, classrooms, or even the [entire school district] in a limited time frame to stop the spread of COVID-19.” 

Ziegler explained that LCPS could reach a point in the Omicron surge where staffing levels aren’t sufficient to safely supervise students, and schools would “need to revert to distance learning; either synchronous or asynchronous for a short period of time.” LCPS would refer to the quarantine period to determine the amount of time spent in virtual learning, currently set to five days, in order to meet the standards set by Chapter 456 for limited closures to halt the spread of COVID-19 and return students and staff to school.

In addition to breaking down the new CDC guidelines, Ziegler described additional measures the county is taking to overcome the issues accompanying the growing number of COVID-19 cases in the county. One such measure is the establishment of COVID-19 testing sites at all high schools county-wide by Jan. 31. These sites will allow LCPS employers with over 100 employees, as it is federally mandated, to test those who are unvaccinated weekly. Additionally, LCPS continues to require mask wearing, contact tracing, and high-touch surface disinfecting on campuses. 

David Goodfriend, Director of the Loudoun County Health Department, also provided a LCPS COVID-19 update using data recorded by the VDH which tracks official confirmed cases, excluding those who test positive with at-home testing kits. As of Jan. 11, an average of 857 new cases were reported per day in LCPS, with the county average of 210 cases per 100,000 people. Recording an average high of more than 100 cases per 100,000 population, LCPS has been labeled an area of high transmission. 

Goodfriend also reviewed the county’s positivity rates. “Along with the number of cases we are seeing, we are also seeing a very rapid increase in percent positivity,” Goodfriend said. “We want to be below 8% for [COVID test] positivity, and right now we are at 34%; one out of every three tests that are done on average comes back positive.” 

Goodfriend ended his presentation with a series of possible scenarios for the future of COVID-19. According to Goodfriend, these potential scenarios consist of the Omicron surge abating by February with transmission rates dropping below the significant level by the end of March, current variants spreading more easily, or new variants being unaffected by the current vaccine.

The next school board meeting will take place on Jan. 25.