BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - Dr. Seth Sullivan believes local schools can stay open during the COVID-19 pandemic. During an interview with News 3′s Karla Castillo Tuesday, the Brazos County Alternate Health Authority said good communication continues between the Brazos County Health District and local school leaders. That includes officials with Texas A&M University.
You can watch the full interview in the video player above.
We’ve heard from just about every superintendent in the area. Some of them are worried about this virus canceling another school year. What do we know now that we didn’t in March?
Dr. Sullivan: “We know a lot that we didn’t know in March. We’re in a position right now now where schools have started and the monitoring has occurred. So we are in a monitoring phase, a close monitoring phase. We have better testing than we had then. We know about our tests, the way our tests behave. We as a public are much more aware, much more educated on the virus, on its effects, on the symptoms. We’ve talked before about the importance of, if in doubt, keep the kids out. There was so much uncertainty in March and many of these questions have been answered. Of course, no one has a crystal ball and can tell what is going to happen in the future but we certainly know a lot more than we did then and we know the principles that can keep us safe.”
What can we as parents do at home to reinforce the importance of things like wearing a mask and washing hands?
Dr. Sullivan: “Kids get it. They want to be back in school. They want to be back with their friends. They want to maintain their activities and they want to live their lives, and that’s an appropriate desire. And so the way that we can continue to do that is by maintaining these principles. It’s not fun to wear masks. It’s not fun to have school differently than it used to but it is better than the alternative of no school. I think that when we put the big picture into perspective for our kids, I think it helps drive home the point.”
Tens of thousands of Texas A&M students are back in town for the fall semester. A&M is addressing COVID with testing on campus for students and staff. Are you happy with what you’re seeing from the university?
Dr. Sullivan: “The university has been top-notch, just absolutely dedicated, scientifically rigorous in its approach. The task in front of Texas A&M is just enormous and they have done a great job of providing testing to its students, and have done a great job of working with the health district as well. We at the health district will continue to monitor those numbers. We expect those numbers to increase. It’s inevitable. There are just a lot of students and so what’s critical is the same thing we’re talking about the younger students is maintaining those principles at school and at home, off campus. And again, it gets back to that big picture - this is the only way we can keep school open, is to maintain those measures as inconvenient as they are. In doing that, it gives us a shot of keeping school open.”
What is your outlook on this fall?
Dr. Sullivan: “I’m optimistic. I’m an optimistic person. I believe that we are better equipped than we were back in March. I believe that we have the tools in place. We have the fundamentals in place to have a successful school year. We adjust and we’ve done that here in the Brazos Valley week after week for the past six months. We’ve adjusted as we’ve needed to. We’ve stepped up when we needed to. We had a surge in July, June/July time frame that with masks and social distancing we saw our numbers drop to single-digits. So we know what we need to do. We have a couple new challenges. I’m optimistic that we, by maintaining the principles of social distancing, wearing our masks, of hanging in there, of being perseverant maintaining our patience through this time frame, I remain optimistic that we can keep schools open. I really do.”
Copyright 2020 KBTX. All rights reserved.
"local" - Google News
September 02, 2020 at 09:53AM
https://ift.tt/3hRcKWu
Dr. Seth Sullivan says he's optimistic local schools can stay open this fall - KBTX
"local" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2WoMCc3
https://ift.tt/2KVQLik
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Dr. Seth Sullivan says he's optimistic local schools can stay open this fall - KBTX"
Post a Comment