MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – In Mon County, about 7,500 students are in classrooms five-days-a-week in what appears to be a successful dance with coronavirus.
“We’ve been back in school now for several weeks in the five day version,” Campbell said on WAJR’s Talk of the Town,” We’ve got a lot of happy kids, we’ve got a lot of happy parents and our teachers are thrilled to see their kids back.”
Outbreaks have been reported at University High School, Mason Dixon Elementary and Morgantown High School. One case of student-to-student spread was reported at the Mountaineer Middle School. According to Campbell, 191 students and three staff are in quarantine and five students and one staff member are COVID positive.
Students in quarantine continue to be offered learning opportunities.
“For a 14-day period of time,” Campbell said,” Those students switch over to remote learning, then when their 14-day quarantine is over, as long as they healthy and not symptomatic they can return back to school.”
Campbell praises the administration, teachers, students and families for the planning and resilience have displayed over the last year.
“We’re pleased with that,” Campbell said,” We think that’s a result of the strictness and the diligence we’ve played out with the contact tracing and quarantining.”
The vaccine has provided some confidence in the return and after the Friday clinic at the Morgantown High School the task will near completion.
“That clinic will allow us to complete every employee no matter what age,” Campbell said,” Every employee will have their second shot, if they’ve chosen to have that.”
In addition to confidence, the vaccine also eases some guidelines that relieves staffing issues encountered early on in the pandemic.
“As the CDC says, once you’ve had your two vaccines and you’re two weeks out from that second vaccine if you are exposed to a positive case you do not have to quarantine,” Campbell said.