- Ann Arbor Public Schools
- Return to School Metrics
AAPS COVID Metrics Dashboard (Archive)
-
AAPS Considerations to Guide Reopening Decisions
- Student needs, including the needs and risks experienced among our most vulnerable students, families, and neighborhoods,
- Availability of COVID testing and timely results,
- Capacity for completing prompt contact tracing efforts,
- Level and trend of COVID community spread,
- Level of strain on community healthcare and hospital infrastructure,
- Progress of COVID Vaccination process,
- Ability to ensure that all in the AAPS - including students, families and staff - consistently complete the mitigation protocols when we return to schools,
- Number of AAPS cases
-
click image to access as PDF with active links
Weekly Updates
COVID Metrics FAQs
-
What is the purpose of the metrics?
The purpose of the AAPS COVID-19 metrics is to inform decision-making for reopening schools to in-person learning -- large grade groups of students -- as described in the AAPS Return to Learning Plan. These metrics apply to re-entry of large grade groups of students. The metrics serve as guideposts for monitoring risk in our community and region rather than as strict thresholds.
AAPS aims to use the metrics to determine the point where community spread is low enough that we can re-open with confidence that our mitigation efforts are likely to prevent widespread transmission within AAPS buildings.
-
How have the metrics evolved?
The draft metrics were discussed extensively at the Board of Education (BOE) Planning Committee on Sept. 11 and as a First Briefing item at the September 16, 2020 BOE meeting. The draft metrics were also posted on the district website.
During this time frame, several important changes occurred, including: the CDC released new indicators for school decision-making, the MI Safe Start Map restructured its risk definitions and changed its color coding system, and the Michigan Dept of Health and Human Services published a new weekly report on school outbreaks.
AAPS administrators considered this new information, community feedback, and consultation with public health authorities in revising the metrics and targets.
In particular, the targets for cases per 1,000,000 and cases per 100,000 were modified. The district will still aim for the lowest risk level, and will also consider a higher risk level to inform decision-making. These changes give the district more flexibility to consider reopening sooner.
-
Is AAPS doing anything else besides tracking these metrics?
As these metrics are monitored, the district is simultaneously preparing to return to in-person learning. In August and September, AAPS:
- Trained over 2,000 staff on COVID-19 protocols and personal prevention
- Designated a school nurse as a COVID-19 lead and trained Health Specialists to support building protocols and data collection
- Made significant progress on facilities improvements such as upgrading HVAC systems, placing plastic “sneeze” guards in offices, and installing touchless faucets in bathrooms.
- These facilities efforts continue including determining building flow and signage details, and many other actions.
The Return to Learning Plan provides an overview of these strategies. Recent BOE presentations have gone into more detail, including the Sept. 30 presentation on COVID-19 building preparation activities from the Physical Properties department.
-
Where did these metrics come from?
Public health experts agree that schools have the best chance of a successful in-person reopening when there is very low community spread of COVID-19 over a period of weeks. The selected metrics are widely used to determine trends in community spread of COVID-19.
Metrics (a), (b), and (d) are required in Michigan Public Act 149, Section 98a, as part of the Extended Continuity of Learning Plans. Metrics (c) an (d) are recommended “Core Indicators” from the CDC Indicators for Dynamic School Decision Making.
-
Why are there there metrics for cases per 100,000 and cases per 1,000,000?
Having both metrics gives us a more accurate picture of community spread. We are using two data sources (the MI Start Map and the Harvard COVID-19 Dashboard).
-
Why aren’t metrics for COVID hospitalizations and deaths included?
Although we are monitoring these statistics, we did not include them in the official dashboard. These two metrics are lagging indicators of disease spread. In addition, they do not capture the long term health impacts that some people with COVID-19 suffer weeks or months after diagnosis.
-
How much do cases on the U of M campus impact the rest of Ann Arbor?
AAPS continues to follow the experiences of other university towns, with a particular focus on small cities with large universities, and AAPS progress in beginning with virtual learning status is consistent with other midwest University towns.
We are also watching the campus data closely and engaging with the Washtenaw County Health Department regularly about potential impacts. If University of Michigan efforts to contain the virus to campus/near campus are successful, AAPS will be able to consider reopening.
A recent, thorough review of similarly situated midwestern University towns shows that the opening of school virtually to begin this fall semester remains the approach of the vast majority of those communities.
