Majority of Beaufort Co. school employees surveyed say they will get COVID vaccine
Of Beaufort County School District’s nearly 3,000 employees, 1,700 — about 57% — have said they want to get vaccinated against COVID-19 when they can, according to a survey sent out by the district.
That percentage may be higher, considering the response rate to the survey. Superintendent Frank Rodriguez said Tuesday that 2,208 staff members responded, about 73% of the workforce; among those who responded, 77% said they wanted to get vaccinated.
Beaufort Memorial Hospital CEO Russell Baxley referenced that survey at a Thursday press conference with S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster and State Superintendent Molly Spearman, discussing McMaster’s decision Wednesday to add seniors aged 65 to 69 to Phase 1a of the state’s vaccine distribution program.
With that announcement, seniors leapfrogged school employees, who are in Phase 1b of the vaccine rollout. McMaster said he was “strongly opposed” to a joint resolution introduced Wednesday that would move teachers into Phase 1a.
“We don’t want to stop a single older person from getting that vaccine,” McMaster said. “We don’t want to put a single younger, healthy person in front of an older person who may die if they don’t get that vaccine.”
Baxley said that once school staff became eligible for the vaccine, he would work with Rodriguez to hold mass vaccination events at school sites, like the one done at Beaufort High School’s football stadium last month for Phase 1a recipients, and to make vaccination appointments available “at convenient hours and on weekends.”
The district has already provided employee contact data, including names, email addresses and school sites, to local hospitals, Rodriguez said last month.
Other takeaways
Spearman also said she would rescind the S.C. Department of Education’s guidance to base school district reopening plans on COVID spread in the community, “given the abundance of reports showing how low COVID-19 risk is in in-person operations.”
“We know now you can operate schools safely even under high spread in communities,” she said.
She added that the Department of Education has seen “significant academic loss” from students’ August and December test scores, especially among elementary students.
Rodriguez has frequently cited low spread in classrooms compared to the community to justify his decision to move Beaufort County School District to full-time, in-person classes on Jan. 4.
The district has about 24,000 students and staff combined. More than 700 students and staff — about 3% of the district’s total population — have contracted the virus since Sept. 28, compared to 7.1% of Beaufort County residents since March.
Rodriguez announced Tuesday that 1,377 students and staff (5.7%) were actively quarantining and 138 students and staff (0.5%) currently had COVID-19.
This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 3:19 PM.