Attendance down at Merced County schools, as upcoming closures loom due to coronavirus
Local schools in Merced County began preparations Monday to shut down classes for at least a month amid the growing threat of coronavirus.
Meanwhile, the Merced County Board of Supervisors on Monday formally declared an emergency. As of Monday afternoon, Merced County had no confirmed coronavirus infections. Nearby Stanislaus County, however, has reported three infections.
Merced County Office of Emergency Services and the Department of Public Health first declared a health emergency Friday. The Board of Supervisors held an emergency meeting Monday to officially ratify the plan.
“This declaration wasn’t made lightly,” Supervisor Scott Silveira said about the local public health emergency. “This cuts through the bureaucratic red tape.”
The declaration opens the county to funding, reimbursement and resources, as well as expediting emergency response processes that are typically slowed by local provisions or regulations.
County officials said it is not a matter of if the county gets a confirmed COVID-19 case, but when. They stressed that the situation is evolving rapidly. “These two emergency declarations are preemptive,” Supervisor Lloyd Pareira said. “The emergency hasn’t shown itself in Merced yet.”
County Public Health Director Rebecca Nanyonjo-Kemp said it’s possible someone in Merced County could already have the virus, but without increased laboratory testing capability, the county cannot be sure.
“We have been impacted, as the rest of this state has been, with our laboratory testing capabilities to get a true and accurate portrait of the spread of disease throughout this community,” she said.
Twenty individuals have been tested for coronavirus in Merced County. All came back negative or are still awaiting results. That number does not include commercial labs, which recently gained the ability to test for COVID-19. However, the county would be notified if any tests were positive.
County officials continued to urge people to disseminate accurate information and curb the spread of misinformation, which can cause panic. Official information and resources can be found through the county, the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization.
Impact on local schools and parents
On Sunday, Merced County school district superintendents and county education officials held an emergency meeting where they decided to close classes at all 20 local school districts starting Thursday, preschool through 12th grade, with classes expected to resume Monday, April 20.
School officials said they are using Monday through Wednesday to give school districts a chance to plan for drive-thru meal services, which will launch Thursday.
Some parents aren’t waiting until the schools officially close to keep their children at home. For example, unofficial numbers from the Merced Union High School District show that excused absences Monday were up to four and half times higher than normal, according to Sam Yniguez, district spokesperson.
Yniguez said parents who choose to keep their children at home can do so without repercussions. But if it makes more sense for parents to send their child to school before Thursday, that’s OK, too.
“This is one of the reasons why we’re not closing right away,” Yniguez said. “We are giving parents and caregivers time to get their affairs in order before the upcoming school closure which starts Thursday.”
Some parents said the situation is causing added stress.
“It’s definitely a disruption to our schedules, so there is some stress too because we’re not sure how long this will last,” said Dalia Magana, 35, from Merced. The mother of three was picking up her 9-year-old child near Burbank Elementary in Merced on Monday.
Magana said that she relies on child care, but she is able to work from home.
She said local education officials made the right decision in closing the schools.
“It’s safety measures and I think that it’s the right thing to do even though we’ll all have to sacrifice. I think we all have to do our part and be OK with disruptions, be OK with stress because it’s going to keep other people safe.”
David Smythe, a junior at Merced High, also said he understood the need for closures. “But I can see how it’s kind of unfair to seniors, especially this is their last year at this school and it’s kind of being compromised by them closing the school down,” he said.
Nathan Quevedo, spokesperson for Merced County Office of Education, said MCOE received messages from parents about the school closures. Some parents had questions about childcare options and what the closure will mean for parents who work full time.
“We really hope to have more information and more resources available for our communities in the next 24 to 48 hours. I can say that we’re developing a webpage now, mcoe.org/covid19, that will link directly to these resources,” Quevedo said.
Quevedo also said there are plans to have a map on the website with information about school meal preparations, which will most likely be a grab-and-go style, in order to try and limit the social interaction between nutrition services staff and the community.
“We really have to think about there’s still people that will provide vital services in our schools and make sure that they’re safe and that we have the correct protective gear, that we’re not putting them in a dangerous situation, we’re being thoughtful about all of it,” he said.
Quevedo echoed Yniguez sentiments, saying for parents who don’t feel safe sending their children to school, attendance is optional for most districts until Thursday.
“If (children) are exhibiting flu-like symptoms or if they don’t feel good, or if you as a parent just don’t feel safe sending your child to school, we understand,” he said.
This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 7:04 PM with the headline "Attendance down at Merced County schools, as upcoming closures loom due to coronavirus."
