Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
School Nursing Staff Burned Out Amid Covid Surges, Staff Shortages
Philadelphia Inquirer: Philly's School Nurses Are Exhausted As Shortages And COVID-19 Double Their Workload
As the only medical professional in a building with nearly 900 students, Girls’ High school nurse Anne Smith is busy every day in a regular year. With a pandemic raging, Smith is now drowning, she said. Smith left work at 8 p.m. on Tuesday. She had been at school more than 12 hours, seen 21 students, tested 10 for COVID-19. There were jobs left to do when she walked out the door, but she was too exhausted to continue. And the veteran nurse — who has 21 years as a school nurse, and nearly 40 in the profession — sees a crisis in the Philadelphia School District. “They don’t have the manpower to handle the pandemic,” Smith said. “One nurse in each school can’t do it.” (Graham, 9/20)
NBC4 WCMH-TV: 100+ Nurses At Columbus Schools ‘Burnt Out’ From Handling COVID-19, Says Letter To Superintendent And Board
More than 100 nurses working for Columbus City Schools say they’re overwhelmed handling COVID-19. A letter to Superintendent Talisa Dixon and the school board, signed by 115 school nurses, demands changes to protocol. Less than a month into the school year, the scathing letter says the virus is running “rampant” through school buildings and the current situation is not sustainable. (Ostroff, 9/17)
In other K-12 school news —
Las Vegas Review-Journal: CCSD Teachers Say COVID-19 Reporting Tool Forcing Them To Miss Work
Approximately 42,000 district employees must answer a series of questions via the emocha Mobile Health app, including whether they’re experiencing certain symptoms associated with COVID-19 or have been exposed to someone who tested positive. Depending on their responses, they receive a color-coded digital badge. If an account is flagged as yellow, it can trigger actions such as an employee being required to stay home and undergo testing. But three district employees, who spoke with the Review-Journal on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisals at work, say they’ve faced struggles getting cleared to return to work — even after testing negative. (Wootton-Greener, 9/19)
The New York Times: A New Covid Testing Model Aims To Spare Students From Quarantine
When the schools in Marietta, Ga., opened their doors on Aug. 3, the highly contagious Delta variant was sweeping across the South, and children were not being spared. By Aug. 20, 51 students in the city’s small school district had tested positive for the coronavirus. Nearly 1,000 others had been flagged as close contacts and had to quarantine at home for seven to 10 days. (Anthes, 9/19)
Las Vegas Review-Journal: COVID Cases Rise In Clark County Schools, But Big Picture Cloudy
The Clark County School District has reported 728 COVID-19 cases among students and staff so far this month — nearly 450 more than a week ago — but it continues to provide no information on its online dashboard on the numbers forced to stay away after possible exposures. As of Friday evening, the district had reported 2,655 cases since July 1 on its online case dashboard. That represents less than 1 percent of its roughly 304,000 students and more than 42,000 employees. The district hasn’t disclosed how many cases have been reported since school started Aug. 9. Nor has it made public any information on the number of staff and students who have been required to quarantine or otherwise excluded from attending classes. (Wootton-Greener, 9/18)
Axios: Most Kentucky School Boards Vote In Favor Of Mask Mandates
A majority of school boards in Kentucky voted in favor of mask mandates, according to the Kentucky School Board Association. A week ago, Kentucky's Republican-dominated legislature voted to revoke a statewide mask mandate in public schools that was meant to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. The decision on masks would instead be left up to individual districts. (Frazier, 9/18)
