Here is the information as of today, Monday, Nov. 23rd and how we begin the week of Nov. 23rd. Sherman County currently has had 406 positive cases, with 40 active cases. We have had 22 total staff and 36 positive student cases. Right now, we have 1 active staff case and 3 student cases.
West Elementary has zero staff and 1 active positive student case. Nineteen students are currently in modified quarantine with 12 students in Remote Learning.
North Elementary currently has 1 active positive staff case and 1 student. There are 10 students on modified quarantine and 12 students in Remote Learning.
The JH-HS currently has zero active positive staff cases and 1 student. There are 8 students on modified quarantine and 9 students in Remote Learning.
We had already made the decision last week to be in Tier 2 for the whole district this week. The Sherman County Health Department just release information on two ordinances that will affect our schools. The first one is the County Commission approved a 4-week mask order for the county that will go in effect on Wednesday, Nov. 25th. The school district will comply with this mask order. Therefore, we will be in mask for the duration of this semester when we come back from Thanksgiving break through the last day of this semester, December 18th. Essentially, we will at a minimum be in Tier 1.5 for the rest of the semester.
The second order deals with contact tracing and should drastically reduce the number of students and staff in quarantine. If both persons are wearing an approved, double layer mask and one is found to be positive for COVID-19 it will not quarantine the other person wearing the mask regardless of the six foot rule. We will continue to operate in our schools as we have previously in regards to all the protocols including doing our best to obtain social distance and six feet. This rule will not change that, it will only help us not to have to deal with all the contact tracing of a positive test result and numbers of students and staff in quarantine as a result.
The exact information on the county orders can be found at https://www.shermancountyhealthdepartment.org or on our website under DOCUMENTS and then COVID RELATED DOCUMENTS or by clicking here: https://www.usd352.org/o/gusd/browse/179169
Thanks, and as always please contact me directly if you have any questions and/or concerns.
Bill Biermann, 785-890-2397, bill.biermann@usd352.org