January 8th, 2021 Community Update
Dear Midview Staff and Families,
A big welcome back and a Happy New Year to all our students, staff, and families! I sure hope everyone had a safe and relaxing break. I’m sure the holidays were a little different, but I appreciate everyone’s help to keep our students and staff safe by following the safety guidelines.
Please take a moment to read through some important updates below from the health department and clarifications from what the Governor has recently shared. The really important part revolves around staff vaccination days because students will not be in school and it could happen at a moment's notice.
Covid Dashboard:
I have updated the district’s Covid dashboard to reflect any new Covid cases from 12/29 through 1/8 (This is 11 total days, not just a week). I did want to bring your attention to a change for the week of 11/30. We have been made aware that one of our students tested positive during that week and it was not reported originally to us, so I wanted to make sure the numbers accurately reflect the cases that have been reported to us.
Midview Covid Dashboard 12/29 - 1/8
Governor DeWine:
Unfortunately, the Governor insists on throwing out information at press conferences without informing the health department or local districts. Last week we dealt with his “change” in quarantine decisions, without knowing that we have been following the health department’s guidance on this since October.
This week, he delivered an edict regarding school vaccines. Just so everyone is aware, we have been working with our health department for months now on a plan to vaccinate our staff. From our understanding at this point, the Governor was upset because a health director in a nearby county started giving extra vaccines to law enforcement which triggered some backlash from other counties.
In response, Governor DeWine created specific dates where each group would now receive vaccines. School staff are part of the 1B group and while we were planning for the end of January, we have now been told that we will not start until at least February 1st.
Lorain County Health Department:
The health department has indicated that the numbers in the county are slowly going down. We are still in the “red” designation and they expect us to stay there for two or three more weeks. However, they are hopeful that the numbers will continue to slowly go down and are confident that as more vaccinations take place, the numbers will go down before another wave of Covid hits.
The health department has the ability to vaccinate 40,000 people per week. The plan is already in place and they are prepared to administer the shots. The issue they are experiencing right now is that they are currently only receiving 500 doses so things are moving more slowly than they would like, but they are ready as long as they can get the vaccines.
Midview Staff Vaccinations:
We spoke today as a county (Superintendents and Health Department) that we will be designating sites throughout the county to vaccinate our staff. Being that we are just under 500 staff members, we may not be a “pod”, but once I have more details, I will share the information.
They have told us that we will be receiving the Moderna vaccine for our staff. The Moderna vaccine will require two shots, 28 days apart. The health department has told us to be ready at a moment’s notice to close school for the day so we can get our staff vaccinated. This day will be treated as a “professional day” for staff members. They will work the entire day as normal, except for when they are going to and from the vaccination location.
I will notify parents via robocall, email, website, and district app, but I want everyone to know now that I may only receive a couple days notice, so be on the lookout in the beginning of February and March. There will not be instruction on these days for students (in-person or online).
A survey will be going out to our staff members shortly to ask their intentions on getting the vaccine. Obviously, we are strongly encouraging everyone to take the vaccine. The first shot of Moderna will offer about 50-55% effectiveness and it will start to slowly go down over the 28 days between shots. The second shot is necessary as a booster and will bring the effectiveness of the vaccine to over 90%.
We are focused on keeping as many staff and students healthy as possible and this is an important step in that plan. Please take some time to read some of the information about the Moderna vaccine and forward any questions you would like me to ask our health department.
As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions.
Have a great weekend! #WeAreMidview
All the best,
Bruce
Dr. Willingham
Superintendent