New guidance from Lyon County Public Health on full vaccination comes at a time when Lyon County’s school districts are seeing elevated coronavirus numbers.
Public Health says students of children ages 12 and above must receive a booster shot to be fully vaccinated. Students who are at least six months beyond their primary vaccination series are considered eligible for the booster.
USD 253 Emporia says nursing staff will handle contact tracing in classrooms if there is time, but high-risk contacts will take priority if there is a time constraint. USD 253 Community Relations says everybody should consider themselves a close contact and it’s important for everybody to closely monitor symptoms if they develop.
USD 253 Community Relations also is asking parents and patrons for patience as the pandemic continues — and it says the district may need to have “non-school days” later this trimester in a way to slow down the pandemic.
USD 253 ended the past school week Friday with 188 student positives, 100 students in home quarantine and 55 students in test-to-learn, along with 32 new staff positives and 12 staff quarantines. USD 251 North Lyon County had 10 student positives and 35 test-to-learn students this past week along with two staff positives and three staff quarantines as of Sunday afternoon. USD 252 Southern Lyon County doesn’t post its COVID traffic numbers, but Superintendent Mike Argabright says the district has positive cases and quarantines in all three of its buildings.
Flint Hills Technical College announced five active cases for the past week with no quarantines. FHTC has had six total positive cases for the spring semester after reporting 64 cases throughout last year.
Emporia State University students return to class Wednesday. The university has not updated its information since Dec. 17, when ESU had four positive cases for the week and 52 for the semester.
