Kane County health officials publicly urge schools toward remote learning, halting sports

As Kane County's COVID-19 numbers continue to climb among younger residents, health officials advised local public and private schools Tuesday to consider more remote learning and a full suspension of all athletic and school activities.

The county's public health department has largely worked with local schools behind the scenes to formulate plans to keep buildings clean and teachers and students minimally exposed to the virus. But the latest pandemic impacts pushed health officials to publicly put their support behind additional mitigation measures.

Kane County hit a COVID-19 positivity rate of 16.7% at the close of the first week of November. Last weekend, the county saw the number of youth cases spike to 628 per 100,000 Kane County residents. The state rates that number as "substantial."

"It is time to take a pause in order to have a discussion with school authorities to implement strategies to further mitigate transmission," said Barb Jeffers, executive director of the health department. "Our hospitals are filling up, and the numbers continue to surge."

Roughly 65% of the region's intensive care unit beds are in use, according to Illinois Department of Public Health data. There are 238 patients on ventilators.

Those are also numbers high enough to fuel Rush Copley Medical Center's support for Jeffers' call for what is officially known as an "Adaptive Pause." Such a pause calls for schools to consult with local health department officials to consider if increased remote learning at the district, classroom, grade level or part of a school building is appropriate.

"An adaptive pause would help provide hospitals relief from the surge of COVID patient admissions we are currently experiencing," said John Diederich, president and CEO of Rush Copley. "While we are 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."

Several school districts have already decided to pivot to more remote learning.

Elgin Area School District 46 will go fully remote starting next week through Dec. 4. St. Charles Unit District 303 will also go remote starting next week and continuing for two weeks.

Geneva Unit District 304 will be remote from Nov. 30 until at least Dec. 4. And Kaneland schools will begin transitioning to remote learning starting next week.