The Clark County School District will provide schools with “additional cleaning” on Monday March 9 in “an abundance of caution” against the worldwide COVID-19 outbreak. The move follows two presumptive cases in Nevada announced earlier this week. Monday was already a “pre-planned day” off for students and teachers.
Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak held a press conference this morning, hours after Clark County School District Superintendent Dr. Jesus F. Jara sent out a districtwide email. Both statements focus on an update regarding COVID-19 testing and school prevention plans.
“At this time, there are no confirmed cases of Coronavirus within CCSD,” Jara said in an email sent out to CSSD students and parents today. “However, we are taking additional precautions to ensure our schools are clean and disinfected regularly in order for our buildings to remain conducive to learning.”
Some students at Spring Valley High School said they find the actions somewhat excessive, according to Senior Sieban Woldegiorgish, who believes Jara’s reactions are based mainly on media coverage.
“They started reacting after they heard about the case in Clark County which is understandable and they’re doing it for safety measures, but I feel in a way they want to do this to make them look good to others globally,” Woldegiorgish said. “The whole world is reacting and it’s like what are they going to do? So this might just be their way of acting against [negative press].”
Other students, like senior Megan Rubio, disagreed, and believe a possible COVID-19 outbreak to be dangerous.
“The Coronavirus worries me with the whole travel thing because I know people talk about how it’s not as deadly, and that news is just making it seem worse than it is, but I think the chances still scare me,” Rubio said. “More and more states are having their first cases and more cases in general so I think yes, the district is doing good… there’s nothing wrong with what they’re doing.”
Governor Sisolak said he feels the course of actions is necessary, but believes Nevadans will be able to get through whatever happens.
“We didn’t overreact, we didn’t underreact, we reacted,” Sisolak said in a press conference earlier this morning. “Every Nevadan should join me in being proud of our local and state health authorities and the collaboration and communication exhibited between our local state and federal leaders… This is what Nevada does, we roll up our sleeves, we put titles aside and we get to work… We’ve been tested before and we came up more resilient than ever…. It takes all of us and it’s what you’ve seen in Nevada.
The CCSD and Southern Nevada Health District are collaborating on “regular basis” according to Jara, and will continue to keep the parents and staff of the district informed via ParentLink and emails.
