Confirmed case reported at NSES
By Melinda L. Lucas
Despite a report late Wednesday morning about the first confirmed coronavirus case at Nancy Smith Elementary School, a spike in local occurrences during the last half of September seemed to be on a downward trend this week. No other information about the newest case was available at press time.
According to Shackelford County judge Robert Skelton, Tuesday’s list from the Texas Department of State Health Services showed one confirmed active case and two probable active cases, with only three total in isolation.
“This is encouraging news,” said Skelton, who acknowledged that even though the DSHS reports lag behind, the numbers seem to going down again.
“This latest report means recoveries have increased to 28 confirmed cases and 18 probable cases for a total of 46 from the beginning of this pandemic,” Skelton said late Tuesday night.
On Albany’s high school campus, where there have been at least 10 cases in the last few weeks, superintendent Jonathan Scott reported Tuesday that only one student was quarantined with a confirmed case, and one other was still showing symptoms.
“Students are wearing masks when they can’t socially distance,” said secondary principal Glen Hill. “Our whole administrative team and our nurses are really going above and beyond, checking temperatures of several specific student groups twice a day – when they enter school and then when they go to athletics.”
He said all students are reminded every day to pre-screen before they come to school.
Albany mayor Susan Montgomery is also encouraged by this week’s lower numbers but cautions that residents must still be proactive about -COVID-19 safety.
“In the last week, new active cases have been extremely high across the country,” Montgomery said. “We have to continue to protect ourselves and our fellow citizens by following the protocol of face coverings, frequent hand washing, and social distancing whenever possible.”
The mayor emphasized her pride in front line workers, mentioning leaders in the medical community, as well as county, city, and school district officials.
“These and many others work hours upon hours to keep us all safe,” she said. “They have been steadfast over the last seven months to do the very best they can, and I thank them for their commitment to Albany during these trying days.”
