CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Cuyahoga County Board of Health is standing by its earlier recommendation that schools in the county start fall classes remotely in light of Cuyahoga County’s downgraded status in the state’s coronavirus public health advisory system.

The board also announced Friday that it will continue recommending that school districts discontinue extracurriculars during the remote period, including sports.

The announcement was made ahead of a scheduled 2:30 p.m. news conference in which Health Commissioner Terry Allan was expected to talk about how the change in status would affect reopening recommendations for local schools.

The board listed the following factors as data that will be monitored to help guide future school decision-making:

•Positivity Rates – A “sustained decline in COVID-19 testing positivity rates below 5%.”

•New Case Reports – “A sustained decline in new cases over a one-month period.”

•State Public Health Advisory System – “A risk rating of “Orange” or 2, or lower over multiple weeks.”

•COVID-19 testing capacity for children – “There is currently little to no testing available for those under the age of 18, dramatically complicating outbreak response in the school setting. “The lack of testing limits our response to a symptom-based investigation only.”

The Board of Health on July 30 announced that it was recommending schools start the fall semester remotely and discontinue extracurriculars, including sports. The county’s “red” status at the time was among the information cited by the board when it rolled out the recommendation.

Cuyahoga County had been ranked as a “red” Level 3 county since the state’s advisory system was rolled out in July, a designation that means a county is considered to have “very high” rates of exposure and spread of the virus. But Gov. Mike DeWine on Thursday announced that Cuyahoga for the first time had been downgraded to “orange” Level 2 status, a designation that means it now has “increased” rates of exposure and spread.

Read the board’s full statement in the viewer below: