Here’s why rising York County school cases may not soon benefit from COVID-19 vaccine
As COVID-19 vaccines become more available, students are unlikely to benefit from them early as schools continue to report new cases.
The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control updated its list Friday of coronavirus cases in K-12 schools. DHEC updates the list twice weekly. The 6,186 cases Friday (4,345 students and 1,841 staff) mark an increase of 525 positives since Tuesday.
Lancaster County private school Carolina Christian Academy is the only tri-county area school new to the list Friday. The school has fewer than five student cases.
Six other schools reported new first student or staff cases. Fort Mill High School, Oakridge Middle School and Orchard Park and McDonald Green elementary schools reported first staff cases. Indian Land Middle and Harrisburg Elementary schools reported first student cases.
Brannon Traxler, state interim public health director, said Friday the earliest vaccines aren’t authorized for children.
“It’s very early to start talking about vaccines for students,” Traxler said.
Traxler said it’s unclear if students will eventually be required to have a COVID-19 vaccination to attend schools.
The DHEC list of school cases often differs from and is lower than numbers provided by the school districts. There is a lag time in reporting and state confirmation. Still, DHEC shows mounting area cases.
The most student cases largely are in high schools. Top high schools in the area are Clover (35), Rock Hill (20), Nation Ford (19), Fort Mill (15), Northwestern (15), South Pointe (11), Andrew Jackson (9), Indian Land (9), Lewisville (8), Lancaster (7), York (7) and Catawba Ridge (5).
Catawba Ridge, Clover and Lewisville have the most staff cases, with five each.
Among nine local high schools, the most student cases are at Kings Town (8), Indian Land (7), Doby’s Bridge (6), Larne (6), Springfield (5) and Van Wyck (5) elementary schools along with Saluda Trail (7), Sullivan (7), Clover (5), Oakridge (5) and Rawlinson Road (5) middle schools. York Intermediate School has six cases.
Rock Hill schools
The Rock Hill School District lists weekly and cumulative cases. There are 35 student and 22 staff cases new this week. Rock Hill High School (9) and Mount Holly Elementary School (7) have the most new student cases. Central CDC has the most new staff cases, with four.
There have been 227 student and 122 staff cases this fall. That’s more than 2% of the student population and almost 5% of the staff population. More than 2,300 students have been isolated or quarantined. The staff number is nearly 600.
Rock Hill (57), Northwestern (34) and South Pointe (25) high schools have the most total student cases.
Fort Mill schools
The Fort Mill School District lists active cases only. On Friday, the district posted 59 student and 29 staff cases.
Catawba Ridge High School has the most with 10 active student cases. Six schools have five or more. Fort Mill Elementary School has the most staff cases with six, followed by Pleasant Knoll Middle School (5) and transportation (4).
Almost half of the 535 students in quarantine are elementary school students. The district has 67 quarantined staff.
Earlier this week, the school district transitioned to virtual teaching amid COVID patterns that, according to a release from the district, show the “possibility of community spread in several schools.”
Clover schools
The Clover School District lists active and total fall cases. There are 48 active student and 13 active staff cases. There are 168 student and 60 staff cases posted this fall.
Clover High School has 30 active student cases. Clover High has 97 student cases this school year.
Clover High also has the most active (6) and total (19) staff cases. There are as many active staff cases there as total cases at any other district school.
York schools
The York School District lists active and total fall cases. There are 10 student and eight staff active cases. There are 67 student and 39 staff cases this school year.
The district site shows 180 students and 34 staff in quarantine.
Jefferson Elementary School has the most active student cases with four, and is tied for most active staff cases with Hunter Street Elementary School with three. York Comprehensive High School (27) and York Intermediate School (10) have the most student cases this year.
Lancaster County schools
The Lancaster County School District lists weekly cases. They aren’t listed by school.
There were 41 new positive cases last week. There were 513 quarantines. All but one student positive came from elementary (19) or high (10) schools. Middle schools, with four, had the most staff positives. Most student and staff quarantines were at the elementary level.
Chester County schools
The Chester County School District lists total fall cases. The 13 new cases this week bring the total to 92 this school year. Included are 59 student and 33 staff cases.
The Chester County dashboard shows the most total cases at Lewisville (23) and Chester (16) high schools, then Lewisville Elementary School (10). Lewisville High has more student positives (18) than any other school has total positives.
