A change in contact tracing protocol for COVID-19 has amplified the number of staff and students required to quarantine in local school districts.

The procedure for identifying close contacts for a COVID-19 case previously was to determine who had been within 6 feet of that person for 15 continuous minutes. That was the guideline followed by the Warren County R-III and Wright City R-II school districts during the first four weeks of school.

Recently, however, the protocol has shifted to defining 15 cumulative minutes throughout the day, rather than all at once, as the criteria for a close contact. That has meant both a more complicated tracing process and an increase in students asked to quarantine and learn from home.

“The swath of those being considered in close contact has grown significantly,” said R-II Superintendent Dr. Chris Berger, when comparing the daily average from the first two weeks of school to that of last week. “We were averaging about 40 students per day quarantined when we reopened, and last Friday we had 67 out.”

Previously, a teacher could be more certain of who fell into the 15 continuous minutes of contact, but the cumulative criteria is more difficult to track.

“If there’s any hesitation or uncertainty on the teacher’s part as to which students were in close proximity for 15 total minutes, we err on the side of caution and include those individuals in the quarantine,” said Berger.

Following social distancing has proven to be easier at the middle school and high school levels, where staff can more effectively teach without close contact.

“When you start talking about pre-school or kindergarten-level classrooms, it’s pretty hard to teach without getting within 6 feet of our students,” added Berger.

For the R-III district, a large percentage of quarantined staff — 38 percent last week — combined with scarcity of substitutes prompted the decision to close the high school building for four days.

“I met with (Principal) Dr. Brad Ross, and we reviewed a plan for the next day and realized every teacher would have to teach on their plan time, and if anybody called in the next day, we wouldn’t have enough staff to teach,” said Superintendent Dr. Gregg Klinginsmith. “Due to the inability to equip classes with teachers, we decided to shut down the high school.”

As of Tuesday, Warren County R-III has had 390 students and 110 staff quarantined at some point during this school year. From those, there were 16 students and nine staff members who tested positive for COVID-19.

In evaluating numbers from the first two weeks of school to the most recent, R-III had 80 students quarantined between Aug. 25 and Sept. 4, compared to 252 students quarantined between Sept. 22 and Oct. 2.

Students returned to the high school building on Tuesday, and Klinginsmith says numbers are trending in a more hopeful direction.

“What we’re seeing this week is less students and staff testing positive and quarantined,” said Klinginsmith. “We’re actually seeing a trend going the way we want to go, where we’re not seeing as much sickness in the buildings.”