Guidelines for safely reopening Kentucky schools are being released this week. Interim Education Commissioner Kevin Brown detailed various aspects of the plan during Governor Beshear’s coronavirus briefing Wednesday.
Included in the recommendations sent to school officials across the Commonwealth is an emphasis on mask wearing by all those in school. Brown says students will not be asked to wear masks in class, if they can be seated six feet apart. “If districts are unable to have that six feet distancing in a classroom, and when you start adding that up, that adds up quickly and it greatly reduces the capacity of a classroom, students will be able to be seated closer together, but masks will be required,” said Brown.
Brown said if students are moving around they must wear a mask. He also said students must wear a mask if they are if less than six feet from another student and when students get on a school bus. The 24 page document also covers issues like screening, sanitation, and contact tracing.
State Public Health Commissioner Steven Stack is urging Kentuckians to consider coronavirus risks when making any type of travel plans. A travel ban, in place across the Commonwealth for several weeks, was lifted on May 22nd. Stack says Myrtle Beach South Carolina opened up in mid-May and less than four weeks later a state of emergency was declared in the popular beach destination. He says one cluster of cases involved Kentuckians. “We had 12 Kentuckians travel to Myrtle Beach. They returned three days later on June 14th. At least nine of those 12 people who traveled to Myrtle Beach, that’s 75% for the math, have come back positive for COVID-19,” explained Stack.
Dr. Stack says doctors believe there is a second cluster of cases involving Kentucky residents who went to Myrtle Beach as well as one more individual. Stack says two similar clusters occurred in West Virginia.?
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