SCHOOLS

“At the same time, one MHS athletic team has experienced an ‘outbreak’ (which is 3 or more related cases) resulting in (several) cases so far and exposure to players, coaches and school staff,” she said.

“Finally, there was a significant Covid exposure to 18 key staff members, including both vaccinated and unvaccinated teachers, classified staff and the admin team (this means all site administrators and the superintendent were exposed),” she said. “One additional staff member had a significant and lengthy unmasked exposure during the athletic team outbreak, and several others have also experienced Covid exposures this week.”

It all added up she said, and by last Friday morning when the test results came in, it was clear the final quarantine numbers were going to be high enough to trigger cancelling inperson teaching for at least two weeks.

Wildman told the Times the decision was a hard one because the district has worked hard to keep all schools open to in person learning, despite daily new cases which have triggered quarantines of hundreds of students since the schools opened in August to in-person learning.

“We have tried so hard to keep open,” she said. “But we simply cannot remain open when so many people are affected. We are hoping the break allows this to die down and we can resume in-person, which is what we are all trying to get to.”

“Obviously, this is difficult news that will affect our staff, students and parents,” Wildman said. “Decisions like these involve a great deal of contemplation and collaboration with Public Health. We do not take school closures lightly.”

The outbreak occurred even though Mammoth Unified has a relatively high number of vaccinated staff and students: 96 percent of the staff and about 65 percent of the district’s students who are eligible for the vaccine have been vaccinated, she said.

“About 65 percent of MUSD students who are 12 years of age and up have been vaccinated,” she said. “About a third of the positive cases in MUSD have been vaccinated and therefore considered break-through cases. Many of those cases have been symptomatic and serious.”

Mono County Public Health officer Bryan Wheeler said the news about vaccinated students and staff getting breakthrough cases does not surprise him because the Delta variant is so contagious, and if students ,even vaccinated ones, spend a significant amount of time with anyone who is positive, they can still become infected. What the vaccines do almost entirely prevent is serious illness requiring hospitalization, and death, he said.

“The main way out of this pandemic is still vaccination,” he said.

Wildman and Wheeler both said there had definitely been some pushback to the decision to close schools temporarily to in-person teaching but overall, parents and the Mammoth community were supportive of the school and county’s decision.

Overall. But not completely, with some parents and political leaders opposing the move or resistant to it, they said.

Wildman said the school board will be addressing the issue of whether to move to mandate vaccines, like LA Unified School District said it will do, this week.

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE

For further information related to the logistics of distance learning, call Mammoth Middle School, 760-934-7072, and Mammoth High School at 760-934-8541.

• The official Health Order can be accessed under the Key Topics section of the Mono

County Covid-19 Portal: https://coronavirus.monocounty.ca.gov.

• For vaccines: Mono County residents and visitors are encouraged to visit the California

Department of Public Health’s My Turn website at myturn.ca.gov to schedule local Covid-19 vaccination appointments, or visit an upcoming Mono County Walk-in Clinic (https://coronavirus.monocounty.ca.gov/pages/vaccinations).

• Mammoth Hospital, Vons, and Rite Aid have all joined in the vaccination effort, and appointments are available via My Turn. In addition to the My Turn website, appointments can be made directly with medical providers and at Mammoth Hospital.