As SC enters new COVID vaccine phase, will it help schools in York County reopen?
More than half of South Carolina’s population will be eligible to sign up for a coronavirus vaccine next week, sparking angst for how the new development will impact vaccine sites and school districts in York, Chester and Lancaster counties.
South Carolina will move into Phase 1b of its vaccination effort Monday, Gov. Henry McMaster announced at a press conference Tuesday. This will extend eligibility to anyone 55 and older, those age 16 to 64 with preexisting conditions, and front-line essential workers — including teachers, law enforcement officers, postal workers and grocery store workers.
“Over 1 million South Carolinians have now received the vaccine,” McMaster said. “Because of these successes, we’re now in a position to make the majority of South Carolinians eligible to receive the vaccine.”
Originally, state health officials intended Phase 1b to only offer eligibility to front-line essential workers, accounting for about 574,000 people. The state’s Department of Health and Environmental Control director, Edward Simmer, said the broadened Phase 1b will include approximately 2.7 million South Carolinians — or roughly five times more residents than initially planned.
“That will take us forward and get us closer to the herd immunity that we seek, which is 70-80% of the population of South Carolina being vaccinated,” Simmer said.
Phase 1a — which deemed health-care workers, long-term care facility residents and staff, and anyone 65 and older eligible — includes 1.3 million South Carolinians, DHEC officials estimate.
So, starting Monday, about 4 million residents — or 78% of the population — will be able to get the coronavirus vaccine.
“Our anticipation is that by summer, every South Carolinian will have had access to this vaccine and, hopefully, we’ll be very close to herd immunity by then,” Simmer said.
How this impacts Clover, Rock Hill school districts
State Schools Superintendent Molly Spearman said she spoke with local district school superintendents and hopes “that they’re on the phone as we are speaking, calling their providers to get their allotment agreed upon and ready to go.”
“For us, the important part is once you’re vaccinated, you do have some immunity and you don’t have to go into quarantine,” Spearman said. “That’s what’s hurting us right now. ... This would help us tremendously in not sending staff home for 10 to 14 days.”
Progressing to Phase 1b will enable school districts to implement plans to vaccinate its educators.
“Today is definitely an exciting day,” Rock Hill school district spokesperson Mychal Frost said in an interview Tuesday afternoon. “We believe that it’ll bring relief to many in our school district, certainly our teachers who are on the front lines … every day with our students in our classrooms.”
The Clover, York, Fort Mill and Rock Hill school districts have each made arrangements for staff to get a vaccine at the Rock Hill Piedmont Medical Center vaccination clinic, which is one of the largest providers in York County, district officials confirmed.
Fort Mill has plans to get 500 staff members their first doses later this week, the district announced Tuesday evening.
“In order to complete this process, the district has determined that all schools will operate on a virtual schedule on Friday, March 5, and Friday, March 26,” a release from the school district said. “The March 26 date is needed to provide the second dose of the vaccine. We are very excited to have this opportunity for our staff.”
Most districts have mobilized a substantial amount of staff already — either because those members were 65 years or older; they secured a dose in North Carolina, which began vaccinating staff last week; or, in specific circumstances, vaccines doses were made available to the public on short notice.
York School District 1, for instance, had sent over 100 employees to the Rock Hill vaccination clinic in February, and another 300 will be vaccinated on Wednesday, district spokesperson Tim Cooper said in an email.
Clover spokesperson Bryan Dillon said many staff members have been vaccinated and will continue to be later this week.
Rock Hill, too.
“There was a day a few weeks ago that Mayor (John Gettys) went on the radio and made a comment that there were 900 doses available and said, ‘Come one, come all,’ or else they were going to have to throw them away,” Frost said. “So that day, we were able to send about 300 employees to the clinic to get their first vaccine.”
Rock Hill vaccine site increased demand
Rock Hill city spokeswoman Katie Quinn confirmed with The Herald that school districts in York County, as well as private and charter schools, have been working closely with the Rock Hill vaccination site.
“The school districts are gathering the names, dates of birth and email addresses for their employees who want to be vaccinated and sending it to us to process,” Quinn said via email.
With fewer than 20 days open, the clinic, which opened at the end of January, provided more than 12,000 doses — or at the time, almost half of York County’s total administrations — by the end of February. Now, the county has administered roughly 35,100 first and second doses, based on DHEC data.
Quinn said city officials have not yet received details on whether it will get more vaccine supply in light of Phase 1b. The clinic releases appointments each week based on supply, so Quinn encouraged people who are newly eligible in Phase 1b to check the clinic’s site regularly for available appointments.
“With the space available at the clinic and the willingness of volunteers to serve, we have capacity to increase the number of patients we’re serving,” Quinn said. “That number, of course, depends on the supply of vaccine we receive.”
Other important information for vaccine in schools
▪ Before Tuesday, multiple districts in York County had already announced plans for their middle and high schools to return to five-day-a-week, in-person instruction after months of operating on a hybrid schedule. Fort Mill announced last week its intentions to reopen March 15. Rock Hill announced Monday that it’ll reopen March 22. And Clover has a target date of return March 8.
▪ Approximately 70% of all Rock Hill Schools district staff has expressed interest in getting a vaccine if made available to them, Frost told The Herald Tuesday. This is a marked rise from a few months ago.
▪ The Chester County School District is working on finalizing a few details of its vaccination plan, school spokesperson Chris Christoff told The Herald via email.
▪ The Lancaster County School District has had a partnership with Medical University South Carolina-Lancaster to offer a vaccination clinic for its employees, Michelle Craig told The Herald via email.
“The first step will be on March 16, when the LCSD nurses will be trained by MUSC-Lancaster to administer on-site vaccines,” she wrote, adding that a follow-up clinic for the second dose will be scheduled once the district knows more about the vaccine delivery timeline.
MUSC’s Lancaster and Chester sites are one of the largest providers in the area, having so far vaccinated over 18,000 people, spokeswoman Ashley Shannon told The Herald — making up nearly 14% of Lancaster and Chester counties’ combined populations. The hospital system has not yet received details on whether it will get more vaccine supply in light of Phase 1b, but it will work to get eligible patients shots, she said.
“We will plan accordingly and work in our best capacity to meet the needs of the communities we serve,” Shannon said.
This story was originally published March 3, 2021 at 9:23 AM.
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