The Calvert County Public Schools (CCPS) and the Calvert County Health Department (CCHD) continue to work collaboratively to best protect the health and safety of students and school staff through the unpredictable shifts of the COVID pandemic. We are very pleased to see a consistently decreasing number of cases and hospitalizations among county residents over the last month. However, Calvert’s weekly case rates remain in the High Transmission range- defined by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as ≥ 100 cases/100,000 residents over a seven-day period.
This past week, the case rate for the county’s entire population has dropped to 138/100,000. For reference, the county’s case rate reached a peak of 883/100,000 residents in mid-January. We are also monitoring the case rate in school-aged children. The current case rate is 237/100,000 for 5–14-year-olds and 138/100,000 in 15–18-year-olds. It is very likely that the higher case rate in the younger age group is a result of lower vaccination rates among children (38% vaccinated) than for teens (70%) and adults.
On Tuesday, the Maryland State Board of Education voted to rescind its mask mandate and to leave it up to individual school districts to determine whether to continue. That action is not final until the Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review Committee (AELR) affirms its support.
It is our hope that our county’s infection rate will be low enough by the week of March 14 to make mask-wearing optional. We want to provide advanced notice for parents and school employees. To be clear, until the case count reaches the moderate range (<50 cases/100,000 residents), mask requirements for everyone in school buildings will remain in place. But if case counts continue to drop at their current rate, it is possible that masks may be optional by mid-March.
Parents who have delayed having their children vaccinated against COVID may want to take this time to reassess their decisions. Vaccinations for 5–11-year-olds have proven very effective and extremely safe. Careful monitoring has shown no myocarditis in this age group. Vaccination protects the child him/herself, their classmates with chronic medical conditions, and family members at high-risk of COVID complications. Within two weeks of an initial dose of vaccination, a child or adult has 60-70% protection against COVID. After the second vaccine dose, protection rises to 80-90%. For students and staff who were vaccinated prior to September, they should consider getting a booster dose. Protection slowly declines 4-5 months after the initial two doses. Within one week of a booster, protection is restored to 80-90%.
The case rates calculated by the CCHD are higher than the statistics provided by the Maryland Department of Health (MDH). They are also more accurate. As CCHD has noted throughout the pandemic, it counts all positive PCR and rapid antigen tests in its weekly case rates. This is standard practice. All of our neighboring states (VA, WV, DE, and PA) include rapid antigen tests in their case counts. MDH only counts PCR tests. The CDC reposts the numbers sent by each state’s health department without question of their methodology. Positive rapid antigen tests are >95% accurate. Approximately 40% of tests performed in our local medical offices are rapid tests. Our county’s doctors and nurses trust these results. So does the CCHD.
As we get closer to low-moderate transmission levels, please take the opportunity to plan for the eventuality of a mask-optional school environment.
Sincerely,
Daniel D. Curry, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Dr. Laurence Polsky
Health Officer
Calvert County Health Department