DEADLY APPROACH

Texas Schools Don’t Have to Tell Parents About COVID Cases, Gov’t Says

The Texas Education Agency issued new guidance Thursday, even as the Delta variant is more prevalent in children.

Texas will buck CDC guidance for the upcoming school year, Delta variant be damned. The state’s education agency issued guidance Thursday saying schools do not have to inform parents of a positive COVID-19 case in school, with the only requirement being to report it to state and local health departments. Schools are also not required to conduct contact tracing if a student, teacher, or staff member tests positive for the virus. If a school does and finds a student to be a close contact of a positive individual, it should notify the student’s parents. The parents may then let the student attend school remotely as they self-quarantine. The agency cites low transmission levels from last school year, despite new scientific evidence indicating the Delta variant is more prevalent in kids.

The guidance comes as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott launches a crusade against more restrictive measures, signing laws banning mask and vaccine mandates even as COVID hospitalizations increase almost 300 percent at some hospitals.