Denver Public Schools officials will announce in the coming days what measures they will take to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 within the district this school year, officials said Thursday.

Board member Tay Anderson said he and the rest of the board would be “updated on Friday” and that the district hopes to unveil the measures “as early as Monday.” Michael Vaughn, a spokesman for the district, also said the timeline was now a matter of days.

Anderson said he wasn’t sure where new Superintendent Alex Marrero “has officially landed” as far as which measures will be put into place, “but I know that he is taking the guidance from the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) into account and is working with public health experts in Denver.”

Rob Gould, president of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, said in a statement the union knows “that learning will most likely happen in-person” and supports mask-wearing.

“We believe that the best way to navigate safe in-person learning is through mask wearing for both students and educators,” he said. 

That CDC guidance, unveiled this week, backpedaled the agency’s previous recommendations and signaled the country’s return to stricter precautions: Not only did it recommend vaccinated people be masked in certain high-risk counties, the CDC also advised students and staff, vaccinated or otherwise, wear masks in schools. 

In Colorado, the decision about what, if any, COVID-19 measures should be taken this school year is up to local authorities. Gov. Jared Polis removed schools from the state’s masking order, and several members of the state Board of Education asked Polis in a letter to avoid instituting state-level restrictions on in-person learning.

The state last week released its guidance for school districts. In it, health officials “strongly” recommended districts use a “layered” approach, meaning a combination of precautionary measures such as masking, distancing, and keeping students in small groups to limit exposure. But, like the CDC’s, those guidelines are recommendations only.

Vaughn declined to comment further on what specific measures Denver school officials were considering. 

The question of what schools should do this fall has been complicated significantly by the dominance of the delta variant, which is not only more transmissible but, as the New York Times reported Thursday, may also drastically increase the amount of virus that vaccinated people carry. The CDC had been steadily loosened guidances, but it abruptly reversed course this week in the wake of preliminary evidence showing viral load in inoculated people.

Counties also are weighing the new CDC guidance. Officials in every county in the Denver metro area told the Gazette this week they were reviewing the new guidance and awaiting more information from the state Department of Public Health and Environment. 

Bob McDonald, executive director of the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment, said in an email the agency “has reviewed the guidance” from the CDC. But the city isn’t instituting any changes to its policy, at least as of Thursday. 

“We respect this guidance and encourage individuals and businesses to make the decision about wearing a face covering that is best for them,” McDonald said in the email. “The COVID-19 vaccines protect against severe illness from the virus. For those who are vaccinated, a mask can provide additional protection, and for some people, might provide peace of mind. It is still STRONGLY encouraged that people who are unvaccinated or immunocompromised wear a face covering and practice social distancing in public places.”