MULTNOMAH COUNTY, Ore. — The Multnomah County Health Department will work with Portland Public Schools as the district works to bring children back into the classroom. Gov. Kate Brown wants all Oregon schools to reopen with at least some in-person learning by April 19.
Multnomah County Deputy Public Health Officer Dr. Ann Loeffler believes it is the right call.
“I’m a big proponent of safely getting everybody back into the classroom. There are certainly lots of students who have suffered using remote learning, virtual learning, and it’s super important that everyone be kept safe,” Dr. Loeffler said. “So, whether that’s the vaccinations for the teachers and staff, masking, testing available; all of those things that around the country and around the world have shown to make it possible to open schools safely. There’s lot of strong data around that.”
That data, according to Loeffler, is being shared with local school districts. Tuesday night, the Multnomah County Health Department will take part in a call with the Portland Public Schools Board to talk about the best way to bring students back into classroom safely.
“What we need to make sure happens across the board is that across the socioeconomic spectrum, across the race and ethnicity spectrum, that everybody gets back to learning,” Loeffler said. “Maybe there are going to be families who say it's not safe to be back in school, and those families have to be able to have virtual learning and be supported so their kids are consistently in attendance; because education, of course, is our future.”
Right now, Loeffler says COVID case numbers in Multnomah County have plateaued. However, there is a very small uptick in cases and percent positivity.
On Friday, Multnomah County entered the moderate risk level for COVID restrictions for the first time in the pandemic. It allows for more patrons at restaurants, gyms and other businesses.
“We don’t know how to interpret that right now because the numbers are so low that any little bit of change is going to look significant,” she said. “So, we’re basically tracking that and reminding people that their behavior makes a difference.”
Loeffler is optimistic, but she reinforces the need to wear masks, social distance and continue good hygiene.
The good news, she says, is that hospitalizations have continued to decline, and Multnomah County has not seen a concerning percentage of COVID variants.
“What we've heard from [the Oregon Health Authority] is that the last thing that they want is to bounce us in and out of risk categories," Loeffler said. "So, we understand that if we creep up a little bit over the threshold, their intention is not to bounce us right down and sort of penalize us. So, it's what we've been waiting and hoping for to get businesses back open, and we just have to do our part at this point.”