Rural schools shut down to keep COVID-19 from overwhelming their small communities

[TexasTowelie]

There are now four school districts that have closed all campuses. Those districts are Bloomburg, Iraan-Sheffield, Morgan Mills, and Waskom. One of the superintendents indicated that he has employees calling in sick that refuse to be tested.


If you get sick in Iraan, a West Texas town with a population of about 1,300, there is a hospital — with 14 beds. There is no critical care, meaning the most that hospital workers can do is stabilize patients and transfer them to a bigger hospital.

Family practitioners with emergency room experience staff the hospital. There are no specialized doctors, no ventilators and no ICU. The closest hospitals with those kinds of services are in Midland, Odessa and San Angelo, all 80 miles or more away — if hospitals there are accepting transfers, a real question as the latest pandemic wave surges.

So having 50 people in Iraan test positive for COVID-19 in the last few weeks is a very scary thing. Only four of the adults needed hospitalization, but three of them needed ventilators and were airlifted out, said Jason Rybolt, administrator of the Iraan General Hospital District.

No one in Iraan has died due to COVID-19 and no children have been hospitalized for it. But when Tracy Canter, superintendent of the Iraan-Sheffield ISD, looked at the figures and then considered what the return to school could mean for her 335 or so students and 70 employees, the path seemed clear. She announced on Monday that the district would close until Aug. 30

Read more: https://www.gosanangelo.com/story/news/2021/08/19/rural-schools-shut-down-keep-covid-19-overwhelming-communities/8204274002/
(San Angelo Standard-Times)

[jpak]

1. They's afeared of a hoax?

Have they no sheep dip, or fish tank cleaner or chlorox?

Do they want to be owned by the libs?

Do tell.....

[Beachnutt]

2. horse wormer

[no_hypocrisy]

3. When you have only 14 beds, it's a clinic or an infirmary, not a hospital.

The beds are used mostly for quarantine/sequestration and for comfort, not for treatment. The capacity to save lives isn't there.

[nitpicker]

4. In contrast

When my mom needed treatment, the local ER in Northern Virginia had at least 28 rooms.

And I suspect Kaiser Tysons has even more.