April 9, 2021 By Jon King / jking@whmi.com
Following Gov. Whitmerâs press conference Friday in which she urged a two-week suspension of in-person high school classes, all youth sports and indoor restaurant dining, at least one local school district is taking action.
In his weekly video update (posted below), Pinckney Superintendent Rick Todd said they would pause both in-person instruction and sports at the high school next week, with most students going to online learning.
Todd pointed to the 19 confirmed COVID cases since Monday in the district, which he said was as many as they normally see over the course of a month. Todd said most of the cases occurred over spring break, and âwe re definitely feeling the impact of that and I think we re going to continue to feel the impact of that.
As the state has seen a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases, schools have been seeing similar trends.
Some schools in Livingston County have seen surges in cases, but school leaders believe the likelihood of in-school transmission is still low. We haven t seen transmission in schools, Pinckney Superintendent Rick Todd said. It could happen, but we re not seeing that as a root cause. What we re seeing are interactions without protocols where you re seeing that mass spread.
The Detroit Free Press reported on March 17 that the largest portion of new COVID-19 cases in Michigan was school-age children. Natasha Radke, public information officer for the Livingston County Health Department, confirmed the county has seen an uptick in cases among children. She said there have been club- and sports-related cases, including the B.1.1.7 variant, which is more contagious and could be causing the increase in school outbreaks.
March 15, 2021 By Jon King / jking@whmi.com
A rising count of confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 is forcing one local school to return to all-remote learning this week, while superintendents are reminding their communities that mitigation strategies like mask-wearing and social distancing are still important if they want to keep schools fully open, including athletics.
In his communication to parents on Friday, Brighton High School Principal Gavin Johnson addressed the issue of students and staff having to be quarantined because of COVID. Johnson noted that the past week was their âbusiest week of the yearâ when it came to quarantines, and while he admitted he did not exactly know why, he did offer some ideas, saying that he was âspeaking honestly and directly with you. Not politicallyâ, pointing out that some in the community, âincluding some of our students, do not think Covid is serious. But they do think quarantine