Schools Reopening in NWA Have a Smaller COVID-19 Impact than Feared

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New Cases for September 1-September 15 per 10K residents across Arkansas shows university campuses and not urban K-12 schools are the current hotspot for COVID-19. K-12 schools in rural communities, however, could be a factor. https://achi.net/covid19

Posted By: Melanie Carbine September 20, 2020

In June there were 500-600 active cases and 33 deaths in the Marshallese community in Northwest Arkansas. There were 9 deaths in July. They made up the majority of Benton and Washington county’s COVID cases. The good news — there has not be a COVID-related death in the NWA Marshallese community since August 2. The Marshallese COVID19 Taskforce reports that there are less than 100 active case in the Marshallese community. Our source from the taskforce says that “the actual numbers are down in the single digits, but we don’t really believe that that’s the case but it beats the heck out of 500s and 600s.” While we are not through this yet, there seems to be a brief reprieve from the spread. They continue to prepare diligently for the next wave of infections. Additionally, UAMS has also been implementing contract tracing and they have been reporting data on their efforts since the week ending August 8. So far, it looks good.

With this brief lull in cases, schools have taken the opportunity to resume in-person classes. Students and staff members returned to school on-site August 31. We have been watching the data closely to see how schools are doing, and we noticed a few trends.

Cumulative Report for September 14

Active CasesStaffStudentsTotal
SPRINGDALE SCHOOL DIST19157590
ROGERS SCHOOL DIST1084351
BENTONVILLE SCHOOL DIST693342
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE517
UNIV OF ARKANSAS – FAYETTEVILLE7351811791517

Cumulative Report for September 10

Active CasesStaffStudentsTotal
SPRINGDALE SCHOOL DIST15136477
ROGERS SCHOOL DIST673744
BENTONVILLE SCHOOL DIST762834
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE815
UNIV OF ARKANSAS – FAYETTEVILLE953169521315

Cumulative Report for Sept 3

Active CasesStaffStudentsTotal
SPRINGDALE SCHOOL DIST1965359
ROGERS SCHOOL DIST1435
BENTONVILLE SCHOOL DIST925
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE
UNIV OF ARKANSAS – FAYETTEVILLE1539133208

Active cases from the various school districts (K-12) remain fairly level even while total cases continue to rise. This means that while students are getting sick, they are also getting better. The virus has spread much more widely among undergraduate college students on university campuses, with the highest spread in the first two weeks of the semester. The first week, 208 students tested positive for COVID-19, while the second week added 1107 additional more cases to the cumulative total. However, the number of active cases the second week was 953, meaning that 154 people were removed from the active case category, which indicates they recovered. The same trend is true from Week 2 to Week 3. There was increase of 202 additional cases, but the number of active cases dropped to 735, meaning that 420 people recovered. Overall, college age students are young, healthy and have few complicating factors. So, long as they remain isolated from older relatives, family communities, and the general population, these numbers are not as alarming as the numbers in June or July. Saying that universities are the new meat-packing industry is a false comparison that actually dramatically understates the devastating toll and impact on workers and their communities from the virus and the failure of industry to reduce spread. Of course, it is not hard to do better if the standard is anything better than meat-processing factories.

While many teachers and families remain concerned about schools reopening, the school district has made online learning optional for any student through the Don Tyson School of Innovation. Additionally, all teachers were given the option to take a leave of absence for the year should they be concerned about returning to work. While they are not guaranteed their specific teaching assignment, the school district has promised to secure a position within the school district for next year. Some schools in Arkansas have had to quarantine individual classes and students, but cities like Springdale and Little Rock that had to deal with such high rates in June and July have since brought down the number of daily cases and maintained those lower rates even with K-12 students returning to schools. Springdale (zip code 72764) has the second lowest daily rate of 10-19 cases, compared to nearby Fayetteville (zip code 72701) which has 100 or more. For now, we remain cautiously optimistic and remind everyone to remain dedicated to social distancing and precautions in our everyday interactions.