Public Health Coalition Releases Updated Guidance for Returning Metro-Denver Students to In-Person Learning

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 15, 2020

DENVER — Returning the youngest students to in-person learning is critical to their overall health and well-being, and experiences in metro Denver’s schools and around the world show this can be done safely. The Metro Denver Partnership for Health (MDPH) today released an updated COVID-19 Strategies for Schools, an evidence-informed guide for the region’s school districts as they plan for in-person learning in 2021.

“In-person learning is critical for the health and development of children, particularly, the youngest children,” said Bill Burman, MD, Executive Director of Denver Public Health and co-chair of MDPH. “Re-opening schools for in-person learning, beginning with the youngest children, should be a public health priority for the Denver metro area.”

The guidance updates the research and evidence on the experiences of in-person learning, provides recommendations for returning to and maintaining in-person attendance, and offers evidence-informed mitigation and prevention strategies for students and staff. In addition to COVID-19 suppression fundamentals of mask wearing, physical distancing, good hygiene, and limited-sized gatherings, schools can implement expanded testing among students and staff and collect data to monitor the effectiveness of mitigation strategies.

“Schools are affected by high rates of community transmission, but experience from many locations, including Colorado, indicate that in-person learning is not the primary driver of community case rates,” said John M. Douglas, Jr., MD, Executive Director of Tri-County Health Department and co-chair of MDPH. “Consistent use of effective prevention measures such as mask wearing, social distancing, effective ventilation, good hand and environmental hygiene, and staying home when sick can help schools continue to remain safe as we enter the final chapters of the pandemic with broad use of effective vaccines.”

Burman will be speaking on behalf of MDPH during a press conference today at 2 p.m. with several school district superintendents from the region who will be sharing their schools’ plans for returning to in-person learning in 2021.

MDPH is led by six public health agencies serving the seven-county Denver metro area: Boulder County Public Health, Broomfield Public Health Department, Denver Department of Public Health & Environment, Denver Public Health, Jefferson County Public Health, and Tri-County Health Department, serving Adams, Arapahoe, and Douglas Counties. MDPH’s work impacts nearly 3 million Coloradans — 60% of the state’s population — who live in this region. MDPH is supported and staffed by the Colorado Health Institute (CHI). The report can be found on CHI’s website at https://colo.health/MDPH.

*****

Contact for the Colorado Health Institute: Kristi Arellano, Managing Director of Marketing and Communications | arellanok@coloradohealthinstitute.org | 720.382.7080