Over 150 Livingston Parish Students, School Employees Quarantine 3 Days Into The School Year Over Coronavirus Concerns
They're only three days into the 2020-2021 school year, but Livingston Parish is already feeling the effects of COVID-19.
According to a report from The Advocate, more than 150 Livingston Parish school district employees and students have been quarantined. School system Superintendent Joe Murphy told The Advocate,
141 students were quarantined due to coronavirus concerns, though she said the district does not have information on how many of those students are positive for the virus themselves as opposed to having been in close contact with someone who is positive.
Murphy also noted that 17 employees are on COVID-19 leave in the school district that has 26,000 students.
Full disclosure: I'm no medical professional, but in my opinion, it's hard to be "shocked" at this headline considering what we know about coronavirus and how it spreads. I'm not saying it's right or wrong for kids to go back to school, or when for that matter—but to me, it seems like something that parents and administrators should almost expect at this point.
As far as any answers beyond that go; as I said earlier, I'm no medical professional or expert so I'm in no place to tell you what to do with your kids. Hopefully, we don't see too many stories like this when a majority of our Acadiana area public schools fire up the fall semester after the Labor Day holiday.
If anything, we can continue to study other state school districts who have decided to go back earlier to make the best decisions.