Submitted by Thurston County
February 26, 2021
Dear Thurston County Superintendents and Heads of Schools,
I am writing to inform you the transmission rates in our county have been under 200 cases per 100,000 population over 14 days for the past two weeks. The county’s current rate is 121.4 on the Governor’s Risk Assessment Dashboard. The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) Metrics for K-12 education recommends the careful phasing in of high school student after middle school students when case rates drop below 200 cases per 100,000 over 14 days. I recommend schools take a cautious phased-in approach to in-person learning for high school students, after middle school students have returned.
I would like to commend all of you for your work in preventing the spread of COVID-19 in our schools. I know each of the communities and school districts in our county are different. I support each of you in your careful phased-in approach to in-person learning for K-12 students across our county in alignment with the DOH Metrics for K-12 education.
I look forward to continuing to work with all of you as in-person learning opportunities are safely expanded to include all of the K-12 learners in Thurston County.
Sincerely,
Dimyana Abdelmalek, MD, MPH Health Officer, Thurston County
