With the school bell about to ring, the debate about masks in schools is heating up. As KWBU’s Dustin Drew reports, Waco McLennan Public County Health District says there several things parents can do to keep their children safe.
COVID cases are on the rise in McLennan County. On Monday, the health district reported 145 new cases of COVID in the county, which is up from the previous weeks average of 110 to 115 per day. LaShonda Malrey Horne is the Executive Director for the Waco McLennan County Public Health District and says that a majority of these new cases and hospitalizations are from unvaccinated people. She also says there is a lot of hesitancy in the Black and Hispanic communities to get the vaccine.
“There is a lot of mistrust around the health care system. So, we’re having to work hard to restore trust in those communities. We’ve established a vaccine ambassador program, where we have community leaders trained to educate the community about the benefit, and how the benefit outweighs the risk to getting vaccinated.”
The first day of school for Waco ISD students is Monday, August 23rd, and Waco ISD is not requiring students to wear masks while in school and other district facilities, they are strongly encouraging students to correctly wear a face mask. They are also offering face masks for those students and employees who do not have one.
Malrey-Horne says one of the best ways to keep your child safe, is to get them vaccinated.
“We are encouraging parents to get their kids over the age of twelve vaccinated, and we have all of those vaccine products available at the health district.”
According to a release on Waco ISD’s website, frequent handwashing and sanitizing will be required.
“Also, make sure your kids have access to an alcohol-based hand sanitizer on their person, meaning put it in their backpack.”
Malrey-Horne says that if you are not vaccinated, and begin to get the symptoms of COVID, be sure to get tested. She says the health district will begin free COVID testing soon.
“And more than anything, making sure they stay home if they have COVID-19, so they don’t spread it.”
You can get all of the latest information, and schedule your vaccine as well as get daily updates at Covid Waco dot com.
Free vaccination clinics will be held at the following locations across Waco:
Wedneday at Holy Spirit Episcopal Church, 1624 Wooded Acres Drive from 8:30a to 4:30p
Thursday at Waco Civic Arts' pedestrian plaza, 7th and Austin Avenue from 5:30p to 8:30p
Friday at Harmony Science Academy, 1110 S. Valley Mills Drive from 9am to noon
Friday at Waco ISD Stadium, 1401 New Road from 10am until noon
Saturday at Family of Faith Worship Center, 4112 Memorial Drive from 10am until noon