Parents, Students, and Teachers Concerned With Potential COVID-19 Infections as Eagle Pass Independent School District Opens August 31
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2020
As the Eagle Pass Independent School District in Eagle Pass, Texas prepares for opening the new 2020-2021 school year on Monday, August 31, 2020 with parents having the option to have their children attend in-person or online instruction, many parents, students, and teachers have expressed concerns regarding their potential infection with COVID-19 at their school campuses in light of the uncontrollable community spread of the deadly virus in Maverick County.
A recent study at the University of Texas at Austin estimated the likelihood of a person carrying the coronavirus showing up to school on the first day of class led by Dr. Lauren Angel Meyers, Professor of Integrative Biology and Executive Director of the COVID-19 Modeling Consortium.
According to the University of Texas at Austin study, it projects that nine (9) people would be expected to arrive infected with COVID-19 at a school with 500 people in Maverick County during the first week of in-person instruction. The study projects a range between six (6) to 19 people would be expected to arrive infected at a school in Maverick County with 500 people in the first week, but the median is nine (9) people at a school with 500 people.
As of August 6, 2020, Maverick County reported 2,360 confirmed positive COVID-19 cases, 991 active cases, 965 people pending test results, 50 fatalities, 56 hospitalized patients, and a positivity rate of 21 percent, the highest rate to date. Obviously, these statistics reflect that Maverick County health care providers, public health experts, public officials, and citizens have been unable to slow or stop the transmission of coronavirus within the community. Currently, the virus is uncontrollable in Maverick County with only 23 days remaining before the first day of school on August 31.
A review of the University of Texas at Austin COVID-19 Modeling study and the statistics in Maverick County indicates that the probability of COVID-19 infections happening at the local public schools is certain. It is not a question of whether if it will happen, but rather a question of when will it happen.
Parents have contacted this publication to express their concerns regarding the health and safety of their children should they choose to send them to in-person instruction. Parents are very concerned of the possibility of their children becoming infected at school and whether preventative measures implemented by the local school district will protect their children from getting infected with the coronavirus.
Students have also shown concerns going to in-person classes through various social media posts. They are concerned that either their friends or themselves might become infected with COVID-19. Students also have demonstrated concerns getting their teachers infected or vice-versa.
Teachers have also contacted this publication expressing their concerns regarding their health and safety as well as that of their students. Some teachers questioned the local school district’s preventative measures against the COVID-19 as being insufficient.
One teacher sent a photo of the materials the local school district was issuing teachers to disinfect their classrooms, a plastic bottle with spray of bleach and a roll of paper towels. Another teacher worried that they are being told by their principal that students will be kept three (3) feet apart and required to pull morning duty and monitor the halls when the students exchange classes, potentially exposing themselves to being infected.
One teacher with pre-existing medical conditions expressed her concerns of becoming infected with the virus by either a student, teacher, parent, or staff person and questioned who would be liable should she get infected and die from the virus. Teachers have many questions and are concerned they are not receiving satisfactory responses from administrators nor receiving sufficient equipment and materials to prevent infection.
Some Texas public school districts have chosen to go totally online instruction for the first eight weeks or entire fall semester to minimize and avoid infection of their students, teachers, and staff.
As the first day of in-person instruction quickly approaches on August 31, parents, students, and teachers have many questions and concerns that need to be answered so that they may make informed and intelligent decisions concerning their health, safety, and education. With COVID-19 being so fluid and highly infectious within Maverick County, the public school situation remains under daily scrutiny by administration, parents, students, teachers, and staff.
