Indiana’s color coding COVID-19 system will affect schools

By color coding Indiana counties, officials hope that the infection trend in each community will be easier to track.

Each county will be assigned a color based on two levels of criteria; the number of new cases in the past week per 100,000 residents and the percent of positivity, determined by the number of positive tests divided by the total number of tests administered.

Each criterion will be assigned a number on a scale of one to three, and the average of the two scores will become the county’s score for the week.

To accompany their score, each county will be given recommendations about how to proceed. On this system, guidelines for counties could change weekly.

The recommendations for each color code are as follows;

Blue: Minimal community spread

Schools operate all grades in person but limit activities where social distancing is difficult. Extra-curricular activities will continue with masks and social distancing.

Yellow: Moderate community spread

Schools operate all grades in person but stress hand washing, distancing and masks. No activities will run if social distancing is not possible, and extracurricular activities will be postponed or canceled appropriately. Schools will also need to work with their local health department to determine if further steps should be taken to reduce spread.

Orange: Moderate to high community spread

Grade schools will continue in person, but middle school and high school will be encouraged to move online. Assemblies and large groups will be restricted and extracurricular activities will be limited or contain participants only- no spectators. Schools will also work with their local health department to determine other steps.

Red: High community spread

Grade schools can remain in person or move online, middle school and high school should move online. Assemblies and large groups will be restricted, extra-curricular activities will be canceled, and social events will be discouraged. Schools should also work with their local health department to consider implementing aggressive prevention efforts in schools and communities.

“What I want to emphasize, is that these metrics change,” said Dr. Kristina Box, “A county that’s in the red today won’t necessarily stay there if people take the right steps and contact tracing is successful.”

The overall goal of the metrics, Box said, is to give schools an easy system to understand and adapt to.