COVID cases force closure of small school districts in Texas and Kentucky.
COVID Cases Force Closure of Tiny Texas School District
Most Texas students are back in the classroom, but for one tiny rural school district, back-to-school was short-lived. A spike in COVID cases forced a tiny Texas school district to close earlier this week when nearly a quarter of its staff tested positive for the virus.
“The safety and well-being of our students, staff, and community is a top priority,”
said Runge Independent School District Superintendent Hector Dominguez in a letter to parents, according to KENS-TV. The district serves 195 students across two campuses in the rural community of Runge, located in Karnes County, about 60 miles southeast of San Antonio.
Temporary Closure and Safety Measures
On Friday, the district’s online COVID tracker showed 10 out of the district’s 43 staff members had active cases of the virus. It showed no active cases among its students. The tracker also reports that 22 other staff members and 39 students have recovered from the virus.
Classes were canceled Tuesday, Aug. 22, and are expected to resume on Aug. 29. The district follows a four-day class schedule from Tuesday through Friday. After-school and extracurricular activities were also canceled until students returned to class.
The district did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.
COVID Cases Rise in Texas and Kentucky
Statewide reports of new COVID cases in Texas increased by nearly 30 percent week over week, with 19,696 cases for the period ending Aug. 19, according to Texas Health and Human Services. Kentucky is also experiencing school closures due to widespread cases of the virus.
Kentucky School Closures
In Kentucky, two school districts shut down classes this week due to widespread cases of the virus.
Lee County School District in Beattyville canceled classes on Tuesday and Wednesday “due to student and staff illness,” the district wrote in a Facebook post on Monday afternoon. Beattyville is about 75 miles southeast of Lexington.
The district said students would have classes at home through non-traditional learning (NTI) on Thursday and Friday. Ten days after school started, 150 students, about 18 percent of enrollment, were out sick on Aug. 18, according to Lee County Schools Superintendent Earl Ray Shuler.
A week later, 157 students missed classes due to illness. “That’s a lot for a small district of 897 students,” he said. Sports practices and games, along with other after-school activities, were also canceled.
About 50 miles northeast of Lee County, classes were also called off for students in Magoffin County Schools, the district announced on social media. The district’s first day of school was Aug. 10.
Initially, a high rate of student absences was due to a combination of illnesses. “We were seeing an uptick in absentees. They were saying COVID, but they were also putting strep throat in there, and there was a virus going around, a stomach virus,” said Magoffin County Health Department Director Pete Shepherd.
Now, COVID cases have become the dominant illness report. Magoffin County Schools in Salyersville serves over 2,000 students across six campuses.
According to Mr. Shepherd, many of the cases have been mild, and “most parents” would not consider giving their children the COVID-19 shot. “Most parents are just … their kids are going to get sick with it, we’ll hold them home and won’t send them to school. They’re not worried about vacc
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