(MURFREESBORO) Murfreesboro City and Rutherford County Schools are both taking precautions to keep the spread of COVID-19 down.
Murfreesboro City Schools strongly suggest that parents encourage students at Siegel Elementary to wear masks for the next several weeks. In addition, three classes at that North Thompson Lane school are quarantined.
County School's Communication Director James Evans told NewsRadio WGNS, "I’ve checked with the Stewarts Creek Elementary principal. A teacher at the school has tested positive, and the students in the class have been identified as potential close contacts. As per our procedures, we have notified the parents and recommended the students quarantine."
In addition, an educator told WGNS that several eighth grade students at Stewarts Creek Middle School have tested positive.
SPECIAL COVID BROADCAST ON WGNS
In the early part of the pandemic, Dr. Dan Rudd shared vital information about the caronavirus on a regular basis with WGNS' listeners. Now that the delta variant is creating COVID issues, Dr. Rudd will be on WGNS next Thursday (8/26/2021) morning from 8:10-9:00AM (Central Time). He will answer questions from the community. Connect with Dr. Rudd over this WGNS broadcast by phoning 615-893-1450 during the broadcast. You can either text a question on the number or talk to him.
CDC Information
In the meantime, the CDC has updated the guidance for fully vaccinated people. CDC recommends universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status. Children participating with in-person learning benefit with layered prevention strategies in place.
- Students benefit from in-person learning, and in-person instruction is a priority.
- Vaccination is the leading public health prevention strategy to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Promoting vaccination can help schools safely return to in-person learning as well as extracurricular activities and sports.
- Due to the circulating and highly contagious Delta variant, CDC recommends universal indoor masking by all students (age 2 and older), staff, teachers, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status.
- In addition to universal indoor masking, CDC recommends schools maintain at least 3 feet of physical distance between students within classrooms to reduce transmission risk. When it is not possible to maintain a physical distance of at least 3 feet, such as when schools cannot fully re-open while maintaining these distances, it is especially important to layer multiple other prevention strategies, such as screening testing.
- Screening testing, ventilation, handwashing and respiratory etiquette, staying home when sick and getting tested, contact tracing in combination with quarantine and isolation, and cleaning and disinfection are also important layers of prevention to keep schools safe.
- Students, teachers, and staff should stay home when they have signs of any infectious illness and be referred to their healthcare provider for testing and care.
- Many schools serve children under the age of 12 who are not eligible for vaccination at this time. Therefore, this guidance emphasizes implementing layered prevention strategies (e.g., using multiple prevention strategies together consistently) to protect students, teachers, staff, visitors, and other members of their households and support in-person learning.
- Localities should monitor community transmission, vaccination coverage, screening testing, and occurrence of outbreaks to guide decisions on the level of layered prevention strategies (e.g., physical distancing, screening testing).
