The COVID-19 pandemic continues its rapid march through Oklahoma and the United States. Over the course of the past week, cases in Oklahoma exceeded 43,000 and more than five million nationwide.
In the last week before the official return to the classroom for most Oklahoma students, the disease continued its spread, with 5,361 new cases being confirmed in the past week alone. The Oklahoma State Department of Health reported 43,963 cases of the coronavirus disease as of Monday, Aug. 10, as compared to 38,602 cases the previous Monday. Washita County reports a total of 28 cases.
According to OSDH data, as of Aug. 10, people in the 18-35 age group now account for 35.4 percent of all COVID cases in Oklahoma. Schoolage children, the 5-17 year-old demographic, account for 8.85 percent of the state’s cases, a number expected to change dramatically as school buildings reopen in the coming weeks.
Part of the issue facing local schools is the potential loss of state and federal funding should local boards and administrators choose to not reopen the classrooms.
Oklahoma’s junior senator, James Lankford, recently said additional aid for schools should be reserved exclusively for schools that resume in-classroom learning.
“Additional dollars should be helping schools that are reopening that will have additional expenses,” he said. “They’re going to have to run additional bus routes to be able to make sure they keep kids separate. They’re going to do have do A and B schedules to open up all their classrooms. It’s going to be greater expenses for them, so we should be able to help those schools going through the opening process. That’s common sense in this.”
Cordell Public Schools has offered three different learning paths for students as the new year begins. Students can opt to return to the classrooms for traditional in-person learning, continue with the distance learning programs that were implemented with the building closures during the last school year, or participate in the school’s blending learning program through the Cordell Personalized Academic Center. Enhanced cleaning and santizing measures have also been implemented and teachers have been given the choice whether or not to require the use of masks in their classrooms.
Students return to school Thursday, Aug. 13.