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Texas local health authorities can shut down schools if a COVID-19 outbreak occurs on campus

Tom Green Co. local health authority, Dr. James Vretis, said he would consider shutting down schools "if we see an exponential growth in the number of cases."

SAN ANGELO, Texas — On Friday, July 31, Gov. Greg Abbott said local health authorities can shut down schools if there’s evidence of an outbreak after students return to campus. However, they can not shut down in-person instruction before school starts. 

Tom Green Co. local health authority Dr. James Vretis said he would consider shutting down in-person instruction if there is an exponential growth in the number of COVID-19 cases and if the growth can be tied back to schools.

"If we start seeing exponential growth - where we start seeing 60, 80, 100 people testing positive in a day - or we see an increase in the hospitalization rate, then it may be time for a serious talk with the schools. See about closing them for a while," he said.

Districts may also close campuses for up to five days to sanitize after a COVID-19 case is confirmed and will be funded for providing remote instruction. However, Dr. Vretis said if students from schools begin testing positive, he would suggest shutting schools down for several weeks.

"I don’t think a one-week closing really does a whole lot. By the time we’ve closed them, we’ve pretty much figured there’s a lot of COVID-19 going around the campus, so we’ve got to keep everybody separated and give that outbreak a chance to die off before we open things back up. If you have COVID positive kids and you close the school for one week and let them all go back the next week when they’re still infected, it will just spread again," he said.

Dr. Vretis said he does not want Tom Green County schools to get into a position that would require shutting down in-person instruction.

"Everybody wants their children going back to school. There are a lot of things that kids are missing out on by not going to school. I don’t want to do it. I don’t want us to get in that position," he said.

Dr. Vretis said he has not had a chance to speak with any schools in Tom Green County but expects them to be receptive and work together to prevent shutting down in-person instruction. 

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