At Saint Louis Public Schools, we are in the business of educating children and giving them the academic, social and emotional tools they need to become future leaders. That said, student and staff safety is always our first priority. This dashboard has been established to provide regular updates on COVID-19 cases in our community. Statistics will be updated weekly and will include data from the seven days prior. If you have any questions about the data, please contact Jordan Grimes, SLPS Internal Communications Liason, at jordan.grimes@slps.org

HOW TO READ THE STATISTICS

• Each slide provides a snapshot of one week. Numbers are not cumulative.
• Data is collected from the City of St. Louis Department of Health (DOH), SLPS staff and SLPS families.
• As with most illnesses, it is not always clear where transmission occurred.
• In order to protect the privacy of students and staff, we cannot share details about individual cases. 
• That said, we can confirm the vast majority of positive cases have been shown to have been contracted outside the District.
• Based on community feedback, as of March 11, 2022, the Dashboard will provide numbers that are school-specific.
• Numbers include all students/staff who were at any point quarantined, and all students/staff who received notice that they tested positive, during the relevant 7-day period.
• The vast majority of the time, “< 5” means 1 or 2 cases. However, statistics are shown as “< 5” to avoid unnecessarily identifying the identity of positive staff or students. 
• Statistics provided in the dashboard are based on the best information available at that time. If new information becomes available, we will correct the record.

DASHBOARD

No data will be provided for the weeks of Thanksgiving, Winter Break or Spring Break because the schools are entirely closed. Data for each of those weeks will be provided in the next data set following the break.  

Our practice is to err on the side of safety and quarantine any student or unvaccinated staff member that has potentially had a close contact with a positive individual, even if it means higher numbers of quarantines.  The good news is that our protocols are working well.  Utilizing on-site screenings and, in some cases, on-site antigen testing administered by our nurses, we are able to flag issues quickly and take action.  In the event of a positive case report, the District’s contact tracing team then works to track contacts in every case. Students who are quarantined are redirected to home-based, virtual learning for the duration of the quarantine. Our teachers are working hard to provide excellent support in virtual learning to all quarantined students, whether their quarantine is a result of a school-related contact or otherwise. 

What we have learned from last year is that most people who are quarantined do not become ill. However, the more we know, the safer our schools will be for all. We will continue to quickly track cases and quarantine all close contacts.

THE PROCESS

The District’s COVID Response Team consults frequently with medical professionals and the City of St. Louis Department of Health regarding St. Louis City COVID data. We will continue to monitor local data, COVID trends and updated CDC/DOH guidance, and adjust our Restart Plans as often as necessary to make the best decisions for our students, staff and community.

DASHBOARD DESIGN

This dashboard is designed to share a snapshot of COVID-19 statistics affecting the Saint Louis Public School District community. Numbers of new positive cases of staff and students are not aggregate; rather, the numbers reflect those cases confirmed by the District during the week time period as indicated.

With respect to the Quarantine numbers, SLPS follows the CDC’s definition of Quarantine: “the separation of a person or group of people reasonably believed to have been exposed to a communicable disease but not yet symptomatic from others who have not been so exposed to prevent the possible spread of the communicable disease. Quarantine may be voluntary or compelled by federal, state, or local public health order.”

Numbers indicated are meant to provide the public with a snapshot of how COVID-19 is affecting the District community as a whole. As such, quarantine numbers indicated include all staff/students subject to any voluntary or mandatory quarantine due to an exposure, regardless of where such exposure occurred. When available, the District will also supply information on how many of those quarantines are due to school/office contact. Those individuals subject to a quarantine will remain within the “Quarantine” tracking numbers until such time that they are no longer subject to a quarantine order.

CONFIRMED POSITIVE CASES

If a student or staff member who has been in a District building tests positive for COVID-19, the COVID Response Team’s Contact Tracers immediately begin the process of contact tracing to determine any close contacts with the COVID-positive individual. Individuals who are not fully vaccinated/up-to-date on boosters and determined to have had close contacts will be subject to a mandatory quarantine period, and those quarantine numbers are reflected in the Dashboard totals throughout that person’s quarantine period.

COMMUNICATION DURING QUARANTINE/ISOLATION

The District’s COVID Response Team will communicate directly with staff members and/or students who potentially had close contact with the individual who tested positive. After a determination that any individual must quarantine due to an exposure, the COVID Response Team will also work in conjunction with both District building staff and the St. Louis City Department of Public Health to maintain contact throughout the quarantine period to obtain relevant updates and facilitate a return to school. Students who test positive for COVID-19 and students who must quarantine will be shifted to virtual education during the time period that they are unable to attend brick-and-mortar.