Tarrant County students returning to class amid COVID-19 surge. How are schools preparing?

David Silva Ramirez
·2 min read

Fort Worth school officials say they’re keeping an eye on the spread of the omicron variant of coronavirus as students are set to return from winter break this week, but no protocol or start time changes have been announced.

COVID-19 is on the rise in North Texas, with Tarrant County reporting the highest number of new cases for a seven-day period since late September, when the state saw a surge from the delta variant. Infections among children requiring hospital treatment more than tripled over the holidays.

For the week of Christmas, the county reported 4,390 new confirmed cases, according to data posted Thursday morning. This is nearly double the number of confirmed cases compared with the week prior.

COVID-19 positivity rates and hospitalizations among children have also significantly jumped in the past week across Cook Children’s Health Care System, said Dr. Mary Suzanne Whitworth, medical director of infectious diseases.

The week of Christmas, eight children were being treated for COVID-19 at Cook Children’s. As of Wednesday, the hospital was treating 29 children, Whitworth said.

“I expect those (numbers) to continue to go up,” she said. “There have been a number of holiday gatherings, travel, and so I think that’s spurring what’s going on now.”

Fort Worth school officials are monitoring the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases and have partnered with the city to help extend testing sites, spokesperson Barbara Griffith said.

The district will maintain its current safety protocols of encouraging masks and social distancing and providing PPE, she said. As of Sunday, there were no announced changes to these protocols, delays to the start of classes or learning format changes.

The school district is currently not allowed to mandate masks because of a Tarrant County District Court order.

Fort Worth students are set to return to classes Jan. 5.

“We are watching and we’ll be taking guidance from the state and county authorities,” Griffith said.

As of Sunday, other Tarrant County school districts —Arlington ISD, Birdville ISD, Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD — had not announced any changes to safety protocols or start times.