Credit: Rick Lott/Effingham Now
Credit: Rick Lott/Effingham Now
Even as the number of positive COVID-19 cases drops across the tri-county region, including within the school systems, there are reminders how swift and deadly the SARS-CoV-2 virus can be.
Students and faculty at Savannah High and Savannah Arts Academy mourn the loss of band leader Federico Foster, 40, who passed away Tuesday reportedly from COVID-19 complications. Foster led the celebrated band program at Savannah High for five years before joining SAA at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year.
This news comes as Savannah-Chatham, Bryan, and Effingham county public schools report declines in their COVID census for the second week in a row.
For the week ending Sept. 10, Savannah-Chatham County schools reported 219 positive cases, down from 360 and 477 from the two previous weeks. Among faculty and staff, the number of positive tests dropped by nearly half from 72 to 28.
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Still, staff unavailability has affected the number of teachers in the classroom. Last week, DeRenne Middle School reported 102 students were learning virtually from home as were an additional 15 students from Woodville-Tompkins High School.
Within the transportation department, which includes drivers who cited inconsistent COVID protocols as one concern for staging a protest last week that left the district scrambling to cover bus routes, positive cases dropped from 10 to three.
In Bryan County schools, positive COVID cases among the more than 11,000 students and staff fell from 76 to 38 between Sept. 2 and Sept. 10, a precipitous drop from 314 the first week of school in August.
Of the 13,600 students and 1,800 staff in Effingham County schools, 58 and 12 tested positive, respectively — a 50 percent decline from the previous week.
The downward trend within the school systems is consistent with trends across the region.
According to Dr. Stephen A. Thacker, associate chief medical officer and pediatric infectious disease specialist for Memorial University Medical Center, new COVID cases are beginning to drop after the third wave began during the summer with the spread of the delta variant.
"It still holds true that children are less likely to be harmed from this infection and less likely to end up in the hospital. But, it's really clear that they're getting infected," Dr. Thacker said. "We saw that trend increase right as school was beginning. It kind of peaked in the first few weeks of school and only it's now starting to decline."
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Thacker added the summer surge was most likely due to the delta variant and as of now, children under 12 are not eligible to receive the COVID vaccine. The vaccine, according to Dr. Thacker, is one of the best ways to protect children and one of the layers of protection that will help keep schools open to in-person instruction and students safe. "Many people in our community, including a lot of parents, have not vaccinated themselves, which is our only way to protect those kids," Thacker said.
The Pfizer COVID vaccine was approved for children age 12 and up earlier this year. According to the Pfizer website at pfizer.com, the vaccine may receive "emergency use authorization" for children ages 5-11 "sometime in the September-October timeframe."
Thacker also believes vaccinating children is one way to obtain "herd immunity" meaning the virus has nowhere to go and can no longer (or at least has a harder time) spreading. According to Pfizer, children under the age of 15 make up 26% of the global population, and Thacker concurs that vaccinating the younger population is a step in the right direction.
"When you talk herd immunity and include that you need to get [children] vaccinated [when they have] access to the vaccine; [children ages] 5 to 11 is a good percentage of our community, especially here in Chatham County," Thacker explained.
"The goal is to have kids in in-person schooling, as safe as it can be. One of the strategies to do that is through vaccination. It's part of a layered approach of protection that schools need to have — including masking and social distancing when they can — in the classroom. But, vaccination really is at the top of that list."
Amy Condon contributed to this story.
Barbara Augsdorfer is the education and nonprofits reporter for the Savannah Morning News. Reach her at BAugsdorfer@gannett.com or on Twitter @Babs7983.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: COVID cases among students, staff drop for second week in Chatham, Bryan and Effingham counties
