WENTZVILLE, Mo. — School has been back in session for in-person learning for just a few weeks and we’re already seeing an alarming number COVID-19 cases within our youngest population.
The Wentzville School District School Board is planning to meet Thursday to talk about solutions for the rise in COVID-19 cases they’re seeing on their elementary school campuses.
Back on Aug. 18, the board decided to keep its mask-optional policy in place after hearing from people for and against a mandate during a meeting. There were spirited comments on both sides.
Students started the year with the choice of whether or not to mask up.
The school board is calling Thursday’s meeting to talk about ways to help elementary schools that are seeing high cases. It’s being called an “emergency discussion.” The Wentzville school board meeting is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. and it will be virtual.
On a map of COVID-19 cases in Missouri grouped by school district, Wentzville is one of the districts of concern.
The district has had 83 new cases reported in the past two weeks in students ages 5-19.
Wentzville is not the only school district in the state seeing high spikes in new cases this year.
Almost two dozen districts have had at least 41 new cases over the past 14 days. Combined, those districts alone have seen 2,964 kids diagnosed with COVID-19.
These numbers come ahead of President Biden's planned announcement Thursday laying out his plans to battle COVID-19 in the classroom.
Wednesday, the president took time to remember lives lost to the COVID pandemic, saying, "I'd like to pause for a moment of silence to honor the hundreds of union workers and essential workers who have died from COVID-19."
President Biden plans to introduce a new 6-point plan to battle the delta variant.
School safety is on the agenda. The president plans to give guidance to schools on how to control spikes in COVID cases among teachers and students, especially because kids under 12 aren't eligible to get the vaccine.
He's also expected to address plans for booster shots and ideas to get more people under 40 vaccinated.