PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Philadelphia Department of Public Health has issued new guidance for Philadelphia schools, in light of the high number of COVID-19 cases the city has been seeing.
Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole said most Philadelphia public schools should not allow students to return to in-person learning for at least ten days after they test positive for COVID-19.
She believes the CDC recommendation that students and teachers can return to school five days after a positive COVID-19 test is too risky for the School District of Philadelphia.
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"Unfortunately, Philadelphia schools suffer from an unfair and unjust state funding formula, That means that many of the layers of mitigation recommended by the CDC cannot be attained at all schools," Dr. Bettigole said.
"Our latest guidance attempts to deal with the facts on the ground, while we commit to advocating for a different and more equitable future."
She said that a school entity can admit students after five days if they can assure good ventilation, a separate eating area, contact tracing, and screening testing.
Many Philadelphia schools would be unable to comply, so the guidance is for students to remain out of school for 10 days. Teachers can return after five days if they test negative on both the fifth and sixth day of infection.
Dr. Bettigole said that the omicron surge is not over, as the city is still close to 2,000 cases a day, double the peak Philadelphia hit pre-omicron.
"We are still in the thick of it," Dr. Bettigole said. "The fact that we’re down from 3,000 cases a day is encouraging. Things are better, but we’re a long way from safe right now."
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The city is likely to see more deaths from COVID-19 in January as a result of omicron.
Dr. Bettigole said because the numbers are so high, the Health Department will no longer use case numbers to decide when to pause in-person learning. They can stay open as long as they have staff.
As of mid-afternoon on Wednesday, the school district had not yet commented on the new guidance.