As Iowa has banned school districts and local governments from enacting mask mandates and case percentages are increasing again in the state due to the Delta variant, local public health departments are in a bind when it comes to advising schools on how to handle students and staff testing positive for COVID-19.

As of Friday the state coronavirus dashboard shows Iowa having an 8.9% 14-day average positive test rate, the highest rate since this past winter, with those not fully vaccinated comprising 82.9% of patients currently hospitalized and 88.7% in intensive care. While masks can only be optional on Iowa school grounds, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that those two years and older in areas of substantial or high transmission wear a face mask in public indoor spaces, regardless of vaccination status.

Jefferson County Public Health Administrator and interim administrator for Washington County Chris Estle says advising schools this fall has so far been a challenge as the Iowa Department of Public Health is no longer conducting contact tracing nor issuing isolation and quarantine orders for people exposed to or testing positive for COVID-19, “We’ve had positive kids in school, we’ve had positive staff members in both counties. I’m sure there’s probably more people that are potentially positive than are reflected in testing. So it’s been a challenge, and it really puts local public health in a difficult position because we are following the current guidance practice recommendations and those do not always align with school guidance and it makes it very, very difficult.”

The IDPH is advising schools that COVID-19 positive individuals can return to normal activities after 10 days since symptoms first appeared, 24 hours with no fever without the use of fever-reducing medications, and other symptoms are improving. They are also continuing to ask K-12 schools to report when more than 10% of students are absent due to illness.