What Indianapolis mayor, health department director said in Thursday's news conference

Marion County's youngest residents were the focus of a Thursday morning coronavirus update provided by Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett, Marion County Public Health Department Director Dr. Virginia Caine and other county leaders.

During the 45-minute briefing, they detailed what a return to in-person learning might look like. The discussion touched on everything from mask requirements, capacity, sharing of supplies, seating charts and contact sports.

Hogsett also acknowledged that while the plans unveiled Thursday were crafted with the intent of making this fall a successful return to the classroom, those plans could and should change if the countywide data demands it.

"The impact the pandemic will have on an entire generation of young people has been an ongoing focus and has helped to shape many of our office's initiatives," Hogsett said. "What so many families are feeling right now, uncertainty, is one of the worst impacts of this ongoing pandemic.

"We cannot erase that uncertainty today, but we can lay out a path forward based on what we know today, and reiterate our commitment to making changes when the facts dictate that we must make changes to preserve the public health."

A new public health order that sets guidance for Marion County schools will go into effect Aug. 6.

It states that middle and high schools with fewer than 400 students may resume in-person classes if social distancing can be achieved in classrooms, while schools with more than 400 students must be operated virtually or in a hybrid model.

K-5 schools may resume in-person classes, and schools with K-5 and above in a single building may resume in-person classes only if proper social distancing is possible. Otherwise, grades 6 and up must remain online or move to a hybrid model.

Hogsett said all students over the age of 8 who attend class in-person will be required to wear a mask. He added that a dedicated team from the county health department will be available to all schools to conduct emergency testing and provide test results within 48 hours.

High-risk teachers, employees and students will all have the ability to opt out of in-person learning, he said.

Caine then detailed a color-coded chart showing the correlation between the countywide infection level and the impact that percent positivity would have on whether in-person learning could take place.

Education: Marion County issues guidance on when schools can re-open

The chart has four levels: green for 0-5% positivity, yellow for 6-10% positivity, orange for 11-12% positivity; and red for positivity levels of 13% and above.

For elementary school students, in-person leaning is permitted for all levels except for red.

For middle and high-school students, yellow would require a transition to a hybrid learning model that includes both digital and in-person learning, while orange and red prohibit in-person learning.

Caine said the hybrid model could be done in several ways, including splitting the day into half in-person and half digital for students. The new requirements cap capacity at 50% once schools transition to the hybrid model, meaning some students will learn from home while their classmates head to school.

Caine said the restrictions differ for elementary schools because younger children tend to have lower positivity rates.

"But we do not want, in these hybrid models, to have the full capacity of students attending for a full day," she said. "In order to break up any transmission of infection, we're having to mix it up."

In terms of resuming contact sports, Caine said county health officials are following IHSAA guidelines and are continuing to analyze local data before making a final recommendation.

She added that the students themselves can help schools resume sports sooner by wearing face coverings and making thoughtful decisions.

"Anyone who has lived in Indiana for a while knows how critical sports can be to our students in terms of their social and emotional well-being, and in terms of their ability maybe to get scholarships for further graduate study," she said. "So I'd love to be able to say I have a decision today, but we're continuing to look at our numbers."

Caine: Protests did not contribute to recent spike

Caine also discussed the overall county coronavirus response. She reiterated that a recent rise in cases required leaders to re-impose restrictions, including closing bars and nightclubs until at least Aug. 12.

This week also saw social gatherings being limited to 50 people, and all other meetings or events to 250 people.

Caine noted that protests that drew thousands to Indianapolis streets did not contribute to the recent spike in cases.

"When we analyzed our data, it appears that our number of cases occurred after we moved into Stage 4 ... and also Stage 4.5," she said. "Now we're starting to see it come back down because I believe the single most important, critical thing that we implemented as an intervention was requiring everyone in this community to wear a face covering in public. I think that was huge."

Stage 4.5: Indiana staying in current reopening stage longer

And while statewide cases reached record new levels, Caine said she was pleased to see a significant decline in deaths related to coronavirus over the past three weeks as hospitalizations remain flat.

"I also have to qualify that ... at the start of this epidemic we were learning about the disease because it was evolving so much, and we didn't have any medication treatment for COVID-19 at the start," she said. "And because it was in an older age bracket where you had a higher rate of chronic medical illnesses, the risk for significant morbidity and mortality was greater. But now that nearly 45% of our new cases that have occured in the last 2 weeks are in a younger population ... we're not seeing the deaths."

Call IndyStar reporter Justin L. Mack at 317-444-6138. Follow him on Twitter: @justinlmack.