TN elementary school closes briefly due to COVID cases
by: Alex Coleman
HUMBOLDT, Tenn. — The Humboldt School District temporarily shut down an elementary school Tuesday because of the rising number of COVID-19 cases.
Class is now back in session at Stigall Primary School after it was briefly closed. But it shows that COVID is still part of our lives.
Ginger Carver, Humboldt City Schools Director of Communications, said the school had several cases Monday in which students and faculty had tested positive for COVID over the weekend.
Parents with students at the elementary school were told to keep them home as crews sanitized the building.
“We just wanted to take precautions to let them out of school on Tuesday in order to fully clean the school, to get a good disinfection of every surface that we got,” Carver said.
Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show COVID-19 infections are spiking in 39 states, including Tennessee.
“We’re definitely seeing an uptick in COVID 19 cases and it’s very contagious,” said Sandy Arnold, Le Bonheur’s Division Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. “It’s just as contagious as it was. The good news is fewer people are getting very ill from it.”
According to the Shelby County Health Department’s Weekly Status Report, as of August 11, there were 613 new reported cases, 946 COVID-19 cases tested, 163 Pediatric Cases Tested, but no new reported deaths.
“But this is proving to us that COVID is going nowhere and it’s going to be with us, and we still haven’t’ completely figured it out,” Arnold said.
One thing health experts have figured out is that face masks remain one of the most crucial measures to prevent the spread of COVID, along with getting an updated booster shot when it’s available.
“If you’re vaccinated plus you’ve had the disease that actually provides the best protection, the best cross protection even from newer viruses and strains that are circulating,” Arnold said.
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Arnold also says a mark of us doing well in protecting people is looking at the smaller number of deaths, as well as fewer people in the hospital due to COVID.
“We are all going to get a COVID cold, once in a while, I think that’s just going to happen,” Arnold said.