Health department medical director in tune with governor's guidelines for schools

Count Dr. John Russell as fully in accord with Gov. Mike Parson’s revised advice to K-12 schools in Missouri.

“(Parson’s) guidance is essentially the same as what we’ve been recommending since school started in August,” said Russell, the medical director of the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center, speaking at a news conference Friday about the rise in COVID cases in the county.

In Jefferson City on Thursday, following the switch of approximately 50 schools in the St. Louis region to virtual learning this week, Parson said students and teachers will no longer need to quarantine for 14 days after COVID exposure if the school has a mask mandate in place.

The primary spur prompting Parson’s action, the governor said, was maintaining adequate school staffing because of the high number of quarantined teachers.

“The school environment has not contributed substantially to the spread of (COVID),” Dr. Rachel Orschein of St. Louis Children’s Hospital said at Parson’s news briefing.

Russell calls discussion of lockdowns to be “noise” and suggested they “harm communities” without producing a “long-term (positive) impact.”

Local reaction

Both Notre Dame Regional High School and the Cape Girardeau School district, both of which have mask mandates, say they will follow the county’s lead.

“The guidelines presented (Thursday) are what we have been following since school began from the health department,” said Paul Unterreiner, Notre Dame assistant principal.

“We plan to continue leaning on our local health department for (its) expertise,” said Kristin Tallent, Cape Girardeau School District communications director.

Cape Girardeau public schools have a required mask policy in place for grades four through 12, which Tallent said is in agreement with advice from county health officials.

“Our main (pandemic) goals remain the same — protecting the health of our entire community and keeping our schools open as long as safely possible so we can serve kids,” she added.

Neighboring district going virtual

The Scott City School District, citing a “significant rise” in student and staff quarantine numbers, will close to in-person instruction for the remainder of November — shifting to what school superintendent Michael Umfleet called an “alternative learning” format.

Non-compliance

Phil Murray, president of the Missouri National Education Association, told the online Missouri Times his organization will “call on local school boards and superintendents to stand with our students and educators and reject (Parson’s) guidance,” noting the Kirkwood and Webster Groves, Missouri, districts have already announced they will not relax their COVID protocols.