MONTGOMERY COUNTY — School nurses are a part of the first wave of people to get the COVID vaccine.
Shannon Cox runs the Montgomery County Education Service Center and she sent notices to 16 public school districts and private schools in the county to make sure school nurses take advantage of vaccinations.
Cox emphasized that we should be getting these vaccines to this particular group because they are on the school’s frontlines.
School nurses are taking care of the kids that are presenting as ill or doing the health checks on people that have been ill and are coming back to school, she said.
Oakwood School Nurse Mary Barnett said she would typically deal with scrapes, cuts and bruises, but this year is much different than any of her other 29 years on the job, as she created isolation areas to deal with COVID.
“Where anybody that’s exhibiting any kind of illness, whether it is staff or students, will be sent until the student would be able to be picked up,” she said.
It’s possible school procedures will be changed as Gov. DeWine announced changes to school quarantining and contact tracing requirements. Everyone is just working to allow students to return to in-person learning as safely, and quickly as possible.
In this round of vaccinations school nurses are included, and in the next round Cox shared they expect to see more educational staff on the list.
In the meantime, using common sense is Barnett’s advice
“That’s the biggest thing, if your child wakes up in the morning and they say they don’t feel good, just keep them home. It’s better to be safe than sorry,” she said.
Leaders believes because research now shows students and schools are not super spreaders, many districts may bring students back inside even before all teachers are vaccinated.
Cox Media Group
