The number of COVID 19 cases and deaths in the US have dropped to their lowest levels in nearly a year, and the number of people vaccinated continues to grow, CDC says. As of May 27, 2021, nearly 133 million people in the US are fully vaccinated, and the national percentage of COVID-19 tests that came back positive over the last 7 days was less than 3%. This is one of the lowest rates the United States has seen since widespread testing began.

The CDC now recommends everyone 12 years and older should get a COVID-19 vaccination to help protect against COVID-19. And widespread vaccination is a critical tool to help stop the pandemic.

However, a recent study tracking return to school states that only 3 in 10 parents are comfortable with their children returning to in-person learning.

 

The study implies parents are prioritizing the safety of their children over in-person learning. Most parents say that schools need to be cautious about opening for in-person learning before it’s safe, even if it gets in the way of children’s education

It’s clear why parents have this fear. When many schools and campuses opened in September 2020, there was a spurt in outbreaks in school, infecting thousands of students and employees, with the virus spreading to the wider community. It necessitated the need for social distancing, hygiene management and COVID 19 tracking in the school environment to keep the spread of the virus from going out of control.

Tracking of COVID 19 has a very critical role to play in reopening schools. A system to track COVID 19 can help school nurses and administrators manage safety of the school environment and ensure children and staff are in a healthy learning environment. Teachers’ unions and other educator groups agree. They say controlling the virus is necessary to reopen schools safely, even for partial in-person classes. And they say that having more comprehensive data on the virus in schools could provide stronger clues about how to do so.

 

 

What is a COVID 19 tracker?

COVID 19 tracker is a software solution that enables an organization to track and manage the spread of COVID 19 in their community. A COVID 19 tracking system for schools is a critical tool that can help in reopening schools safely and making learning stress-free for students and parents.

 

 

How can schools benefit from COVID-19 Tracker?

The EduHealth COVID 19 tracker is a single system for COVID 19 tracking in schools with two important modules – a COVID 19 tracker and contact tracer.

The COVID 19 school health tracking system on EduHealth is built to assist school re-opening plans by tracking and monitoring cases of COVID 19 in the school environment. The system enables school health authorities to track cases systematically and take necessary next steps to stop a spread in the school and associated community.

To help schools achieve this goal, school nurses can use the COVID 19 tracker system for schools to collect staff and students’ symptom-related data, as well as monitor the health and status COVID 19 positive cases.

Once a student starts showing symptoms of COVID 19, school nurses will suggest that they undergo a COVID 19 test. This starts the tracking process. The system will inform school nurses when 48 hours have passed since the student started showing symptoms and school nurses can contact the student concerned to know the status of the test. If the student tests negative, the school nurse marks the case as a false alarm, and if tested positive, they are moved to the COVID 19 positive stage. In this stage, school nurses must ensure that the student moves from in-person learning to a remote learning environment.

Even in a remote learning environment, parents can update students’ symptom-related information on the system, keeping school health authorities updated on their students’ health information.

Two weeks after testing positive, the student moves to the Returns Expected stage, where once again the school nurse can check on the status of the person. Once the student tests negative and are well, they can return to in-person learning, and school nurses can change the status of the student to Returned.

At any given time, the tracker shows the real-time status of the number of potential positive cases and COVID 19 positive students and staff.

The COVID 19 tracker:

· Tracks suspected cases

· Monitors symptoms of those found positive and quarantine monitoring

· Checks symptoms of students and staff daily with a comprehensive symptom checklist

· Manages confirmed cases workflow, suspected cases, and contact information

· Tracks false positives

· Automates status updates, workflows, and status change reminders

· Patient outcome monitoring

· Has integrated reporting

The contact tracer on EduHealth assists school nurses in identifying the close contact groups of an affected student and staff. With the EduHealth contact tracer, school nurses can collect important contact data and are have the right information for fast decision-making that’s critical to keep the school safe. The EduHealth contact tracer decreases the chances of a disease spread within the school environment with:

· Contact tracing

· Cohort management

· Risk and exposure assessments and status reporting

· Reporting and analysis of the case

· Emergency contact data information and notification provision

 

 

COVID 19 tracking helping keep schools open

COVID 19 tracking system for schools like EduHealth COVID 19 tracker are going to play a critical role in helping keep schools open.

It provides school health authorities with the right data that enables them to take faster decisions that helps to keep the school environment safe. Schools using the COVID 19 tracker on EduHealth have found the system helpful in keeping children learning in a safe environment.

To learn more about managing COVID 19 in your schools with a comprehensive tracking system, talk to us today.