The day after Gov. Brian Kemp announced plans to vaccinate school teachers in Georgia against COVID-19, the Cobb County School District said Friday it had briefed staff members with more details.
In a news release, the district said it would be working with Cobb and Douglas Public Health to implement a vaccination program, and that staffers will be eligible for vaccines starting March 8.
That program includes the creation of mass vaccination sites for district staff once vaccine supplies are sufficient.
Three educators in the Cobb school district, including a paraprofessional at Sedalia Park Elementary School, have died since December due to COVID-19.
Those deaths led to emotional calls by some teachers and parents to go to all-remote learning.
School nurses, police officers and school staff 65 and older already have been able to get vaccinated through other providers.
Starting March 8, school employees can book an appointment for a vaccine at any public health agency in the state. But they’ll have to vie with others already on the eligible list for those vaccines, including people over 65, health care workers and first responders.
Cobb and Douglas Public Health has not been booking new appointments for the last three weeks due a shortage of vaccine supplies, and has said it may not get an increase until March or April.
The Cobb school district’s message to staff indicated that “as soon as vaccine supply is in hand, we will quickly schedule our mass vaccination drive-through events for Cobb educators. Specific dates, times, and locations will be made available once vaccine supply is in hand. At this time, only full-time and part-time school staff are eligible.”
Those appointments will be booked online and eligible individuals will be required to have an appointment to get a vaccine. The district said the vaccines are not mandatory.
Timber Ridge Elementary School teacher Laurie Weiner, who is older than 65, has received both doses of the vaccine. In the district’s release, she said that “I am appreciative of the seamless sign-up and procedures taken through the process. . . . Timber Ridge has implemented suggested guidelines as well. I feel more secure teaching my students since I have received both vaccinations.”
COVID-19 case rates in the Cobb school district continued their fall this week after staff and students returned from winter break.
The district announced in its weekly update on Friday that there were 229 new confirmed cases of the virus, the lowest weekly figure since before the Thanksgiving holidays.
On Feb. 12, before last week’s winter break, that figure was 232 new cases, which aren’t broken down between students and staff.
Kell High School in East Cobb was the only school in the 112-campus district to report double-figures in new cases, with 11 this week. There were nine new cases at Pope High School.
Since the district began compiling figures last July 1, there have been 3,960 cases reported. The district recently began indicating cumulative cases per school, and Walton High School and North Cobb High School have the most, at 102 cases each.
There have been 94 cases at Lassiter High School, 9 each at Pope and Kennesaw Mountain High School.
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