Post by Nadica (She/Her) on Aug 29, 2024 2:28:42 GMT
COVID-19 cases on the rise in Northwest Arkansas - Published Aug 28, 2024
ROGERS, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — The new school year for students in the Rogers Public School District started two weeks ago and so far, there have already been cases of COVID-19 reported, according to Superintendent of schools Dr. Jeff Perry.
“There’s not been anything at this point that we feel is a pandemic or incredible spike. It’s just been a couple individuals,” Perry said. “And it does seem that this year the severity is not that great. People have contracted the virus. It seems that they’re out a day or two and then the symptoms go away. Then they’re able to return to work.”
He says the symptoms these people had were headaches and fatigue.
“Fortunately, we have really not heard of anybody that’s had an extreme reaction to this. I believe that they’ve just came out with new vaccines that would kind of help combat maybe this particular strain of COVID, which is that comes out and it gets in the population more,” Perry said.
The potential cause of the COVID cases are students being around other relatives or recently traveling across the country according to Perry.
“As they do that, bring it back to school, we just end up seeing some of the results of that,” Perry said.
The Rogers School District isn’t the only place seeing a slight uptick in cases, hospitals and outpatient clinics are as well.
“Our hospitals are operating at full capacity and not being overwhelmed by any stretch right now,” Dr. Marti Sharkey, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention consultant, said.
Sharkey says although it’s no longer tracking positive test results, the CDC has seen high numbers of viral shedding in our wastewater
“We know it’s here. We know it’s prominent,” Sharkey said.
There are ways to reduce the risk of you contracting COVID-19.
“That’s really by strict social isolation,” Sharkey said.
But if you are experiencing symptoms, Sharkey says to take an at-home test instead of heading to the doctor’s office.
“So you don’t have COVID, You go sit in that waiting room, probably somebody in the waiting room has COVID, you’re going to expose yourself. Or you have COVID, and the person sitting next to you is suffering from breast cancer. They’re sick people, so I don’t recommend going straight to the doctor. We have good home tests, and the government, next month, is going to be starting the free test by mail again, so we should be able to have all the tests we want,” Sharkey said.
Perry says the district will have those new COVID tests.
“We’ll make sure that we try to pick up some of those,” Perry said.
He says this is because they do not want to go back to massive quarantines.
“In which we isolated both staff and students from the school environment for extended periods of time,” Perry said.
He says he also doesn’t want someone with COVID, presenting symptoms, in school.
“We don’t want those individuals in the classroom either because they will only spread the virus and create bad situations for other individuals,” Perry said.
If the test comes back positive, Sharkey says you can treat it with medicine.
“With an anti-cough medicine, maybe some ibuprofen if you have any headache or fever or chills maybe decongestant, if that is really bothering you, tea with honey, all those good things that that we go by when we have a bad cold or flu, will help with COVID as well,” Sharkey said.
The Rogers School District says COVID protocols are in place if a student or faculty member gets sick.
“When you’re sick and you test positive, we want you to stay home. And when you are symptom-free for 24 hours, you can return back to school,” Perry said.
ROGERS, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — The new school year for students in the Rogers Public School District started two weeks ago and so far, there have already been cases of COVID-19 reported, according to Superintendent of schools Dr. Jeff Perry.
“There’s not been anything at this point that we feel is a pandemic or incredible spike. It’s just been a couple individuals,” Perry said. “And it does seem that this year the severity is not that great. People have contracted the virus. It seems that they’re out a day or two and then the symptoms go away. Then they’re able to return to work.”
He says the symptoms these people had were headaches and fatigue.
“Fortunately, we have really not heard of anybody that’s had an extreme reaction to this. I believe that they’ve just came out with new vaccines that would kind of help combat maybe this particular strain of COVID, which is that comes out and it gets in the population more,” Perry said.
The potential cause of the COVID cases are students being around other relatives or recently traveling across the country according to Perry.
“As they do that, bring it back to school, we just end up seeing some of the results of that,” Perry said.
The Rogers School District isn’t the only place seeing a slight uptick in cases, hospitals and outpatient clinics are as well.
“Our hospitals are operating at full capacity and not being overwhelmed by any stretch right now,” Dr. Marti Sharkey, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention consultant, said.
Sharkey says although it’s no longer tracking positive test results, the CDC has seen high numbers of viral shedding in our wastewater
“We know it’s here. We know it’s prominent,” Sharkey said.
There are ways to reduce the risk of you contracting COVID-19.
“That’s really by strict social isolation,” Sharkey said.
But if you are experiencing symptoms, Sharkey says to take an at-home test instead of heading to the doctor’s office.
“So you don’t have COVID, You go sit in that waiting room, probably somebody in the waiting room has COVID, you’re going to expose yourself. Or you have COVID, and the person sitting next to you is suffering from breast cancer. They’re sick people, so I don’t recommend going straight to the doctor. We have good home tests, and the government, next month, is going to be starting the free test by mail again, so we should be able to have all the tests we want,” Sharkey said.
Perry says the district will have those new COVID tests.
“We’ll make sure that we try to pick up some of those,” Perry said.
He says this is because they do not want to go back to massive quarantines.
“In which we isolated both staff and students from the school environment for extended periods of time,” Perry said.
He says he also doesn’t want someone with COVID, presenting symptoms, in school.
“We don’t want those individuals in the classroom either because they will only spread the virus and create bad situations for other individuals,” Perry said.
If the test comes back positive, Sharkey says you can treat it with medicine.
“With an anti-cough medicine, maybe some ibuprofen if you have any headache or fever or chills maybe decongestant, if that is really bothering you, tea with honey, all those good things that that we go by when we have a bad cold or flu, will help with COVID as well,” Sharkey said.
The Rogers School District says COVID protocols are in place if a student or faculty member gets sick.
“When you’re sick and you test positive, we want you to stay home. And when you are symptom-free for 24 hours, you can return back to school,” Perry said.