MORGANTOWN — Donna Talerico said Tuesday she hopes more of Monongalia County’s students will exercise their right to bare arms before the first day of school Aug. 24.
“We need our kids vaccinated,” said Talerico, the district’s deputy superintendent of schools.
“That’s the only way we can keep everyone safe and still have that ‘normal’ year that we’re going for,” she said.
As she was talking, the district was finishing up another round of doses for students and anyone else associated with the Mon schools.
First-time Pfizer vaccines were administered Monday and Tuesday. The second dose goes into arms Aug. 29 and Aug. 30, at the end of the first week of the new school year.
A total of 65 shots have been given over the past two days, Talerico said.
“That’s steady, but not as high as we’d hoped,” she said, “but it is still 65 more doses than we did have.”
This most recent round in Monongalia County comes as the Delta variant of the coronavirus is rolling a pandemic sequel.
New cases in the nation surged to 85,000 Monday. Mask mandates are again in place in many locales, with surges in Texas and California, most notably.
Hospitals in Florida and Louisiana are again limiting some medical procedures due to the surge.
In West Virginia, where the population is relative to the pandemic, Delta cases have been reported in 29 counties, the state Department of Health and Human Resources said.
While Gov. Jim Justice said Monday he has no plans as yet for a mask mandate statewide, school districts are now considering that possibility in their buildings.
Monday, the Kanawha County Board of Education voted 3-2 to require masks in pre-kindergarten through 5th grade. Masks will remain optional for now in grades 6-12.
Mon’s BOE, meanwhile, had earlier voted to go mask-free – before the surge in variant cases.
“Right now, we’re just waiting on guidance from the state,” Talerico said.
At least some of guidance will be delivered as early as Wednesday afternoon from Charleston. The state Department of Education and state Board of Education will hold a joint press conference at 2 p.m. to discuss particulars.
State Superintendent of Schools Clayton Burch will be at the podium, joined by Tom Campbell and Bernie Dolan.
Campbell is vice president of the state BOE and Dolan is executive director of West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission, which oversees all sports programs in public schools here.
Talerico said the vaccination clinics across Mon’s school district will be ongoing.
“We’re going to put those opportunities out there and hope for the best.”
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