LAWRENCE, Kan. – Lawrence has returned to the Yellow Phase of its Smart and Safe School reopening plan.
Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health says with Douglas Count’s positivity rate increasing to 5.2% on Thursday, it has returned to the Yellow Phase of its Smart and Safe School Reopening Guidance after only one week in the Green Phase.
According to LDCPH, the Yellow Phase recommends schools offer hybrid instruction and includes no all school activities at the elementary level and no high-risk activities at the middle and high school levels.
LDCPH Director Dan Partridge said even though the 14-day moving average of the positivity rate increased slightly in the past week, the total number of tests in the most 14-day period dropped to about 3,300 total tests from an earlier average of around 4,000 tests, which may affect the positivity rate.
“We believe our community continues to do a good job with masking and social distancing to help prevent the spread of the virus in our community – particularly with what we are seeing in communities in other areas of the state and region,” Partridge said. “But we also want to encourage anyone who believes they are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms — even if you don’t know you were potentially exposed — to get tested. With more recently relaxed testing protocols, we can now offer tests to anyone experiencing only one potential COVID-19 symptom.”