PORTLAND, Oregon — As school buildings in Clackamas County sit empty, some parents describe home learning as a struggle.
"It's not going well," said a father of multiple kids.
"No, it's a challenge," the mom added. "Two of our kids have ADHA and trying to keep them focused on their computers all day is almost not happening."
Locally, getting kids back into school doesn’t seem likely for a while.
"I’m thinking spring, maybe late winter? But I don’t think before the new year at this point," another parent speculated.
In order for kids to return to school in Clackamas County, there needs to be no more than 50 cases per 100,000 residents for two weeks, and the positivity rate shouldn't exceed 5%.
Currently, Clackamas County has a 6.6% positivity rate with 111.5 cases per 100,000 people.
“I think that the relaxing of metrics makes it a much more reasonable goal, something that we could potentially meet because we have recently,” said Dr. Sarah Present with Clackamas County Public Health.
"About 170 public and private schools in Clackamas County have been required to submit their blueprint plans to public health," she added. "We've had a team of people that have been reviewing those blueprints and giving some feedback."
Those plans include learning in small pods, limiting interactions within the pods and including teachers as part of those pods when considering exposure.
"We also really need to be prepared for having cases and kind of expect that that a school will have a case and be ready to deal with it," said Present.
One mom told KGW, "I’m hopeful, if we come together as a community, keep doing the right things, wearing our masks, I think that’s the biggest part."
With the holiday season fast approaching and counts in Oregon hitting record levels this week, the future remains unpredictable.
Chris McGinness is a meteorologist and transportation reporter for KGW. Got a story idea or a great photo you want to share? Email him at cmcginness@kgw.com or reach out on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram