LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Jefferson County Board of Education plans to vote on when students can return to learn in person this Thursday. The decision was set Tuesday night as members heard about the status of COVID-19 in Louisville from area doctors during their board work session meeting.
What You Need To Know
- Jefferson County Board of Education to vote on when students can return to in-person learning Thursday
- Board members heard from medical professionals Tuesday night
- Members questioned experts on the vaccine's effectiveness, the impact of COVID-19 on children's health, and more
- JCPS has looked at rates of community spread to determine when to go back to in-person learning
They'll give it 48 hours from that meeting until a vote is taken on when kids can return to face-to-face instruction. This comes as Gov. Andy Beshear announced an executive order Tuesday for all schools to begin some kind of in-person learning on March 1.
"You can absolutely pull this off," Dr. Jason Smith, UofL Health Chief Medical Officer, encouraged members Tuesday night. "There have been 118 children hospitalized at the children's hospital here in Louisville for the entire year associated with severe infection from COVID[-19]," Smith said. "They simply do not have a significant rate of transmission, nor do they have a significant rate of infection, in the patient population treated in our pediatric practices at UofL."
Members questioned the medical experts on the effectiveness of the vaccine, the impact of COVID-19 on children's health, and whether a return to in-person school would disproportionately affect students of color.
"I am concerned that by resuming in-person classes, we will not only negatively impact Louisville as a community," stated Member Corrie Shull.
"Right now in Louisville, majority of our cases and the majority of our deaths are in the white population," replied Dr. Sarah Moyer, Louisville's Chief Health Strategist.
Some members seemed nervous since Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) has for so long looked at the rate of community spread to determine when to go back into schools.
"I think that Kentucky being one of the first places to vaccinate teachers, and in a different place than the CDC guidelines...we're there," Moyer explained why she thinks schools can safely resume. "We know from national data and data that we have locally, majority of the spread of kids getting COVID[-19] has been from adults — or teacher-to-child. There's been very little child-to-child."