CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS The rate of COVID-19 cases have increased in Marshalltown Community School District. The district sent out a letter to parents, saying face masks will be required. Earlier in the year, students were given an option of wearing either a face masks or a face shield.

The rate of COVID-19 cases in Marshall County has increased to 16 percent during the last two weeks, and the Marshalltown Community School District uses the rate of infection to determine the next course of action.

The high rate of infection in Marshall County only ranks as the 58th highest in the state. Wayne County in south central Iowa is the worst at 33.3 percent. No county has a rate lower than 5 percent. The lowest rate is 7.9 percent in Hamilton County.

Superintendent Theron Schutte did not have an updated rate of absenteeism for his district, but said it has been 5 percent or less in recent weeks.

“We’ve had an increase in students as well as employees getting negatively impacted through either themselves testing positive or being deemed close contact to somebody that tested positive,” he said. “A vast majority of them were not a result of spread at school.”

The superintendent said there have been cases where small classes were forced to quarantine because of contact with an infected individual.

The bigger challenge for the district is controlling infection in its staff. Schutte said that concern isn’t limited to teachers, but also bus drivers, custodians and any other employees of the district.

“I am concerned with the increasing number of our employees – that have been negatively impacted,” he said. “We just don’t have a lot of substitutes to replace them.”

The positive county rate of 16 percent has caused Schutte some concern.

“This morning I sent out communication basically mandating we start requiring face masks being worn — because the Iowa Department of Public Health and the CDC indicate those are the safest way to prevent spread,” he said.

The district is already requiring the use of either face masks or face shields, but Schutte said the shields are less effective.

The district has also been implementing hybrid learning, alternating on and off-site days for students.

IDPH guidelines suggest schools consider moving to online only learning if infection rate exceeds 20 percent and absences hit 10 percent.

“The state set a pretty high bar to even entertain the idea,” Schutte said. “Most districts are debating on 5 or 10 percent.”

Schutte hopes to keep the spread of the virus under control through difficult winter months and keep the possibility of 100 percent in-person attendance alive.

“I hope we can ride out the surge we’re experiencing right now,” he said. “There’s no question we’ve had an uptick in the number of students and employees negatively impacted.”

Marshall County Public Health Nurse Pat Thompson said the rash of positive cases is likely the worst the area has seen. Cold weather driving everyone indoors could be one contributing factor.

“Anytime you have those times of activities bringing people together indoors you’re going to have increased risks of catching the virus,” Thompson said.

The spike in cases is concerning, but not surprising to her.

“We’re not necessarily shocked by it,” she said. “We’ve used the word ‘safe’ a lot but you’re not safe. It’s here. It’s community spread. You need to decrease your risk of catching COVID by staying 6 feet apart, wearing a mask and not congregating.”

“Don’t share your air,” Thompson said. “We want to be together again. We will get back to normal.”

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Contact Joe Fisher at 641-753-6611 or jfisher@timesrepublican.com