Health Department special meeting scheduled

There were no clear answers to be had at the meeting of the Platte County Health Department board of directors Tuesday night in Platte City.

Just before the meeting, the county released its most recent numbers, with 999 COVID-19 infections now reported in Platte County. Of those, 569 are within the City of Kansas City and 230 outside the city limits. Kansas City numbers saw a jump in recent days due to updated reporting processes. Of the Platte County cases, 39 patients have required hospitalization and 11 have died. One death in Kansas City North, within Platte County, has also recently been reported.

A special meeting was tentatively scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 20 to address the new regional gating criteria, back to school plans, expanded testing and school sports.

Several items were added to the agenda at the start of the meeting, with board president Dr. Kent Jackson thanking members of the public in attendance outside, who had spoken to board members prior to the meeting. The group consisted of students, parents and coaches.

Jackson also reported he had recently spoken to Platte County presiding commissioner Ron Schieber regarding CARES Act funding, among other matters.

The health department has not yet received any pandemic response funding from the federal CARES Act, although commissioners have approved dozens of business grants.

“We had a very amicable conversation and I think everything is going to work out as far as the money goes,” Jackson said.

Gating criteria for a safe return to school for kindergarten through 12th grade was recently established for the Kansas City metro area as part of the “Safe Return KC” plan.

The K-12 Regional Gating Criteria were compiled in consultation and cooperation with local public health departments, school superintendents and Children’s Mercy Kansas City.

Health Department director Mary Jo Vernon outlined the intent behind the regional plan.

“This was created to keep as much consistency among jurisdictions as possible,” Vernon.

Board members were uncertain if they wished to sign on to the suggestions made under the plan, in which green, yellow and red levels indicate the levels of risk in attending face-to-face school programs.

Health department officials have long said the most accurate way to track COVID-19 in the county is by watching the percentage of persons testing positive during a two-week period, calculated as the positivity rate.

Although the Platte County positivity rate is trending downward from its peak of nearly 18 percent in late June to the current rate of 11 percent, Health Department assistant director Dan Luebbert said the numbers need to continue to decline for school to start.

Under the regional gating criteria, schools are in the green at less than 5 percent positivity, with in-person instruction following safety guidelines; from 5-10 percent is yellow, with either hybrid or cautious in-person instruction recommended; above 10 percent is in the red zone, with remote learning recommended.

Jackson was concerned that data always appears to be at least two weeks behind, yet the schools need two weeks of lead time to learn if students can return to face-to-face learning.

Officials discussed reporting protocols and how lag times could affect decisions made by either school districts or the health department.

“There really is a time when the disease is so prevalent in our community that we should not be gathering in large groups,” Luebbert said.

“Are we at that time?” Jackson asked.

“I think we are,” Luebbert said.

There was disagreement among members of the board and staff regarding whether or not the health department needed to adopt the gating criteria or if the school districts could follow it independently.

The board plans to discuss possible adoption of the gating criteria at the Thursday special meeting.