Local schools now required to report COVID-19 cases to health department

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - To prevent new cases from happening in schools, child care, and shelters, COVID-19 is now an infection required to be reported to the Arizona Department of Health Services.

The measure applies to public, charter, and private schools with children from K-12th grade, including child care centers and shelters.

These services in the past were required to report other infectious diseases, such as chickenpox, measles, or mumps, to name a few.

Roz Koch, Director for Happy Trails & Desert Trails, says they were already reporting to the health department, so not much is changing for them.

Crane District has a few students who are doing distance learning from its schools.

Laurie Doering, Crane District Superintendent, says they are requesting a two-way communication with the health department when it comes to reporting. She hopes the health department can report to them if they know of any cases from children in the district.

Some schools in Arizona have to meet specific benchmarks before being able to reopen to in-person instruction.

Other districts like District One have recently pushed back it's September 8 start date until the benchmarks are met.

As for Crane District, Doering says they don't anticipate returning until benchmarks are met for two consecutive weeks.