This week, school districts across North Texas will continue work to come up with timelines for students’ return to classrooms in the new school year.
The Texas Education Agency has now allowed schools to postpone in-person learning for up to eight weeks.
Superintendents from across Tarrant County held a conference call Friday but had not announced a county-wide decision as of Monday morning.
“It’s a huge concern. It’s a big concern for the educators who may have some risk factors of their own and may be older like me,” Tarrant County Chief Epidemiologist, Russ Jones said.
Jones said how schools choose to function and the precautions they decide could affect COVID-19 spread in the entire community.
“I happen to be the camp that I believe that we will see transmissions in schools because we’ve seen it in that age group especially teenagers,” Jones said. “If we get that transmission, we will see a large spike of cases if they are mixing.”
The concern grows because of multi-generational living situations.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
“Those folks go home and give it to their siblings, they give it mom and dad and grandparents and aunts are also in the household – or just down the block,” Jones said. “They give it to the older family members and as a result, we end up with more hospitalizations. It’s not good for the older family members.”
