As many of you know already, CHS has been seeing a small increase in Covid-related absences. Mrs. Barton, assistant principal, said about 5-8 students were out every day because of Covid. The increase in absences is mainly due to close contact cases. There are no current plans to implement new or past Covid procedures for the foreseeable future. CHS had an emergency day off on Friday, Jan. 14, due to a lack of staff and bus drivers.
Currently, Randolph County has a high Covid transmission rate. This means that one’s chances of contracting Covid are high due to the number of cases in an area. The week of January 17th, Randolph County had 1,018 cases with a positivity rate of 22%. You can keep up with this information by visiting the Randolph County Health Department website.
It’s essential to protect yourself and others from getting infected by wearing your mask correctly, washing your hands, and staying home if you are sick. Students should be wearing their masks over their noses. When sneezing and coughing, masks should stay on to prevent the spread of the germs. While this seems gross, it protects everyone around you. It may make you feel more comfortable in these situations to bring extra masks along with hand sanitizer. Most teachers do have extra masks if a student needs to replace one. Something to think about is getting a Covid vaccination if you are eligible.
Of course, everyone is tired of this virus and would like to go back to as normal as possible. It is hard to do that if people are not following protocol. If we all do our best then maybe we’ll get to our “more normal” lives sooner.