Pine-Richland extends virtual learning until Jan. 18 to help tame coronavirus spread

Students in the Pine-Richland School District will continue to attend classes remotely until at least Jan. 18 to help slow the spread of coronavirus, officials announced.

“While we share the desire to move back to the hybrid model, we want to ensure that it is safe and sustainable to do so,” school officials wrote in a letter sent home to parents announcing the decision.

“When a return-to-hybrid occurs, it is likely that the return may begin with elementary age students given evolving public health information and specific model design at those levels,” they wrote.

District officials initially planned for students to return to the hybrid model — a mix of online and in-person classes — when students return from the winter holiday break that begins on Wednesday.

The letter notes that the district’s decision not to return students to in-person instruction was based on recommendations from state health and education officials.

The district also produced a podcast outlining the data used to help guide its decisions.

School officials noted that the district’s increase in positive covid-19 has occurred as the cases in Allegheny County have risen.

Allegheny County on Saturday recorded 1,015 new coronavirus cases — a 188-case jump from Friday’s total of 827. On Thursday, 850 cases were reported.

It’s the eighth day this month the county surpassed 1,000 cases.

Seven new deaths also were reported on Saturday, raising the county’s toll to 777.

In September, there were two positive covid-19 cases in the district. The number of cases increased to five in October.

In November, 42 people — 34 students and eight staff members — were infected with the virus.

So far this month, there have been 49 cases affecting 38 students and 11 staff members.

School officials said while the number of cases has increased, coronavirus is not being transmitted in the school buildings.

“We’re seeing in our school what we would expect to see based upon the increase of the virus in the community,” officials said. “But it would be wrong, it would be inaccurate, to infer that the increase in student and staff cases is connected to transmission within the schools.”

School officials noted that social gatherings in which people are failing to wear masks or take other precautions remains the primary source for transmission of the virus.