Cases continue to strain area personnel
A two-week, in-person break ended for Graham County students Monday.
The district returned to in-person instruction – with a full mask mandate enforced – after switching to remote learning Aug. 31.
“It went very well,” Superintendent Angie Knight said. “We find that children don’t really have a problem with it, especially the little ones. The older children are so glad to be back around each other that they will comply.”
The mandate applies to buses and indoor instruction and will be re-evaluated at the next board of education meeting Tuesday, Oct. 5. With the mandate in place, students will no longer have to quarantine if they are within 6 feet of a positive case.
“It (the pause from in-person instruction) definitely helped; we were able to do some deep cleaning,” Knight said. “A lot of the contact that first week or two of school would have come from community spread; we were just a residual effect. We’ll be able to tell the tale in a couple of weeks.”
The system also released its first glimpse at district-wide COVID-19 numbers Monday, a task Knight indicated would occur at the end of each school day. She said anywhere between 350-400 of the system’s 1,179 students were already in quarantine when the switch to remote occurred.
Monday’s numbers pointed to a mere 34 in quarantine, but 32 positive cases. Staff positives had dwindled to nine out of the 208 who work in the district.
“The most important thing to me is being able to get these kids an education,” Knight said. “If it takes wearing masks to get everybody here, that’s what we’ll do.
“Remote instruction is not a good strategy – especially here in Graham County, where so many of the children don’t have an option for internet. For mental health, we’re better when we’re here (in person) and can see kids, talk with them and can make sure they know somebody loves them.”
The district was also able to roll out its recently purchased and modified food truck during the two-week pause, traveling to various points through the county to deliver meals.
Countywide spread
Though students returned to school, numbers across Graham County continue to tick upward.
In the 10-day span from Sept. 3-13, the local health department reported 125 new positive cases, bringing the total to 1,123 in Graham County since the pandemic hit the United States in March 2020.
A press release late Tuesday afternoon confirmed the county’s 20th death.
The constant strain of caring for patients – and transportation to area hospitals, which has presented challenges due to limited capacity – spurned Graham County Republican Party Chairman Steve Odom to contact state officials and attempt to get National Guard Mobile Units brought to the county.
Though no local action has finalized the scenario – commissioners would first need to declare a State of Emergency, before receiving state approval – Odom said in a Tuesday morning email that state Rep. Karl Gillespie (R-Macon) is working to dispatch personnel from Atrium Health in Charlotte.
“I appreciate what he is doing now, asking for help,” Odom said. “I ask that you help me pray that we get some help.”