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By Drew Lawson
The Times 

County's virus outbreak continues

Student and faculty positive case numbers continue to balloon

 

Last updated 4/8/2021 at 2:48pm



DAVENPORT – The COVID-19 outbreak among students and staff in area schools didn’t slow down in the last week.

Instead, cases are steadily growing in Lincoln County, most of which can be traced back to the schools.

Sports appear to have been a key cog in the virus outbreak, especially in Davenport.

“Sporting events exacerbated this, with more students packed into the gyms,” county Public Health Administrator Ed Dzedzy told Lincoln County commissioners at their meeting April 5. “Student-athletes in every sport have tested positive.”

Part of the outbreak was traced to the March 25 Senior Night volleyball game against Northwest Christian (Colbert), where multiple students in the student section ended up having the virus.

The school district has encouraged anyone at that game to monitor for symptoms and get tested for COVID-19.

However, sports aren’t the only way the virus has spread here. An adult with children in the district traveled to Seattle, got symptomatic and brought the virus back to his kids in Davenport.

“Our biggest concern is not where we are now, but where this might get with parents and grandparents,” Dzedzy said.

Both the Davenport and Reardan school districts are on spring break, with hopes of returning to in-person school April 12.

However, virus case counts may force more remote learning at the beginning of next week. Schools went to remote learning last week after the outbreak began. Stay tuned to The Times for the latest updates.

19 students and six adults got COVID-19 in Davenport. One school employee in their 50s was hospitalized.

Reardan numbers

Currently, 16 students and eight adults have contracted the virus in Reardan.

Reardan cases are also to blame for a “couple” new cases in Wilbur, and some Reardan cases likely came from students who go to school in the district but live in Spokane County.

“Reardan is more complicated because of the students in Spokane County,” Dzedzy said. “We don’t get those results regarding parents.”

Lincoln County is up to 47 new cases in the last 14 days, after reaching nearly zero in the weeks prior. The 47 cases is all that has been confirmed by the Lincoln County Health Department, but that likely doesn’t tell the full story.

“We have more cases than we currently know about,” Dzedzy said.

Not moving backward

The county is not yet in danger of moving backwards in a re-opening phase. Lincoln County would have to have more than 100 cases in a span of two weeks and three or more hospitalizations due to COVID-19 at the next evaluation period April 12.

The 47 active cases and one current hospitalization don’t yet cause concern that a move back to Phase 2 is imminent, but Dzedzy cautions citizens against letting their guards down as virus counts rise around the state.

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” Dzedzy said. “We need to keep wearing facial coverings, social distancing and limiting social gatherings.”

Mass vaccinations possible

Dzedzy also told the commissioners that the health department is considering mass vaccination clinics at the Lincoln County Fairgrounds now that the county is getting a weekly allotment of new doses. 2,800 first doses have been given here so far, and 2,100 people are fully vaccinated.

“There may be a FEMA opportunity for reimbursement on mass vaccination clinics,” Dzedzy said. “Most likely, the funding would allow us to fully rent out the fairgrounds.”

He also said the clinics would likely be every Thursday, with the number of doses available depending on the allotment given to the county that week. Expansion to multiple days is also possible.

“We’d also still probably have to do some pop-up clinics to hit places like Sprague, Harrington, Odessa and Seven Bays,” Dzedzy said.

Currently, essential workers, healthcare workers and anyone above the age of 60 is eligible for the vaccine. That will change soon, as everyone in Washington above the age of 16 will be eligible to get their shot April 15.

Author Bio

Drew Lawson, Editor

Author photo

Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.

 

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