By 1812Blockhouse
The rapid rise in COVID cases seen in the general population is now clearly reflected in infection rates for Richland County school districts and buildings, where total infections tripled in one week.
Last Thursday, in the first set of full results after the launch of school, there were a total of 43 reported cases during the previous week. These included 34 new student infections and 9 staff. These were found in seven different school districts and buildings.
This Thursday, September 2, that number of affected districts and buildings had grown to 12, and the total number of new infections stood at 141. This amount represents 112 students and 29 staff members.
Those reporting were as follows:
- Crestview – 7 students, 2 staff
- Cypress High School – 1 student
- Lexington – 23 students, 9 staff
- Lucas – 3 students
- Madison – 20 students, 12 staff
- Mansfield Christian – 1 student, 2 staff
- Mansfield City – 21 students, 3 staff
- Pioneer – 15 students
- Shelby – 17 students
- St. Peter Jr./Sr. High – 1 student
- St. Peter Private – 1 student
- Richland School of Academic Arts – 2 students, 1 staff
Also on Thursday, Shelby Superintendent Tim Tarvin shared a letter with parents and community members sharing the decision to close Shelby Schools on Friday due to a rapid and dramatic increase in infection numbers.
Shelby joins Lexington and Crestview Schools is announcing temporary closures of in person instruction related to COVID.
In the communication Tarvin shared, “Schools will be CLOSED tomorrow, Friday, September 3, 2021, and it will be considered a calamity day. School will resume with in-person learning on Tuesday, September 7th. At this time, all extracurricular activities will continue as scheduled.
Today, Thursday, September 2, Shelby High School has 25% of their student population absent, Shelby Middle School has 15%, and Dowds and Auburn have 10%. Many students are displaying symptoms, with the most common being headache, sore throat, and stomachache. The majority of our positive cases originated from community contact, but now we are seeing an increase in positive cases as a result of classroom contact. Please continue to monitor your child’s health, and if they are not feeling well, please keep them home until they are symptom free for 24 hours without the use of medication.”
He also discussed District efforts at making buildings safe for education:
“In an effort to reduce spread, all school buildings will be deep cleaned and sanitized this weekend. As we head into the Labor Day weekend, we encourage you to be aware of your community contact to help reduce the spread.”
Sources: Ohio Department of Health, Shelby City Schools; Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
