Expanded COVID-19 testing coming for MS teachers after hundreds test positive, Reeves says
Mississippi teachers will have more opportunities to get tested for COVID-19, Gov. Tate Reeves announced at a press conference on Monday afternoon, as state health officer Thomas Dobbs announced 245 teachers have tested positive since school started.
Reeves also announced the state Medicaid division is expanding telehealth services in schools. Under the expansion, schools are approved to serve as “telehealth originating sites,” so that students can get care without leaving campus even if their school doesn’t have a nurse or clinic.
The change is intended to particularly benefit rural areas, where parents may have to take off work and drive long distances to pick up a child from school and take them to a clinic visit.
Under the expansion of testing for teachers, 16 testing teams will rotate across county health departments to offer drive-through testing. Teachers will be able to get a test regardless of whether they’ve shown symptoms or had contact with someone who tested positive.
Dobbs said the expanded testing at county health departments will launch next week.
Reeves announced the new measures hours after the state reported its smallest number of new daily cases in more than a month.
Dobbs warned that the state is at an inflection point in its fight to control the transmission of the virus.
”This is a remarkable opportunity, that if we make the right decisions, and really focus on limiting transmission at this moment, we can have an entirely different trajectory,” Dobbs said.
But school reopenings could change the landscape, and parties on college campuses that violate social distancing guidelines could be particularly dangerous, he cautioned.
“If you have kids in college, tell them to stay home and stay out of groups, because we’re going to have some real trouble out of that,” Dobbs said.
So far, Dobbs said, school districts in 71 counties have reported coronavirus cases. Districts have reported 245 cases among teachers and 199 students.
Currently, 2,035 students and 589 teachers are under quarantine, he said.
