In the midst of a global pandemic, Iowa is a state which has been powerfully impacted by COVID-19. So far, there have been about 120,911 cases, with 2,756 cases per 100,000 people in the last 7 days (as of October 29). Since March, the numbers have been steadily increasing.

What about our school district? Out of 15,234 students, from Oct. 17-23, 24 individuals have tested positive, 6 individuals are quarantined relating to District exposure, and 5 new individuals have been placed in quarantine related to District exposure.

In percentages, about 0.002% of all District members have tested positive, while 0.0004% of all District members are quarantining relating to District exposure,  

So, what are our district and building doing to reduce these numbers and help prevent them from increasing?

I reached out to Mrs. Shaw, school nurse at Central, for her thoughts on what Central is doing to prevent the spread of the virus. 

She named many precautions, such as wearing a mask at all times in the building, maintaining 6 or more feet of distance between students in classrooms and close to that at lunch, and using hand washing and hand sanitizer during hallway transitions and before getting lunch. 

She also explained how Central is limiting traffic inside school from outside visitors, limiting visits to the health office by providing teachers with the resources to meet these needs in the classroom, and spraying down desks and door handles regularly throughout the school day. 

Other practices she mentioned include, “holding meetings virtually whenever possible, i.e.  parent teacher conferences [and] mandatory staff meetings.”

“Bathrooms and all other areas have a limit to the number of people that can be in them due to space and maintaining social distancing as well.”

What are her thoughts about how Central is doing as a whole?

  “I think here at Central, we are doing an amazing job at not only keeping our students and their families safe, but also our staff. When people are ill, either at school, or before school, we have them stay home. Not only stay home for a few days to see if [they are] getting better but [we] also advise follow up with [a] primary health care provider to decide [the] next course of action.” 

“Whether that is a COVID-19 test, another diagnosis, quarantine, etc., we are working hand in hand with our SCHD (Scott County Health Department), especially our head nurse, to ensure we are doing the best to not be spreading the virus throughout our district.”

“It isn’t easy to do all this, but I think everyone is on board with how important it is for us to provide in person learning to our student population, even if it is in a hybrid scenario.”

Mrs. Shaw also gave advice on how to improve our response as a District.

“As far as it goes with [the] district doing better, I think we just need to continue to support our students in learning on a virtual platform and figuring out solutions to problems that exist within that system. Thank goodness I am just a nurse so I don’t have to solve those issues, but those who do have their work cut out for them.”