By BETH ZUMWALT
Scott County is reporting 36 new cases of COVID over the past week and 39 individuals are in quarantine.
“This week we are seeing more of the cases related to inter-household positives such as mom, dad, and siblings that live in the same household as a positive case,”Meghan VanDeVelde RN, BSN at the Scott County Health Department. “There have also been a handful of community acquired cases too.”
VanDeVelde did not indicate which age groups had been hit the hardest but Kevin Blankenship, superintendent of both Bluffs and Winchester Schools, says while Winchester is seeing a few more cases than Bluffs, average absenteeism is running about four percent.
“About three weeks ago, right around Thanksgiving, we had several staff members out, either quarantined because of their exposure or a spouse’s,” Blankenship said. “We talked about remote learning then, because substitutes are so hard to find.”
VanDeVelde said it is hoped the numbers will start declining soon.
“ We have approximately 20 cases that will come out of isolation this week, so if new case numbers stay down, we will be in much better shape going into Christmas.”
To date, 1,943 Scott County residents are fully vaccinated, representing 39.4 percent of the population, below the state average.
“Our vaccine clinic is booked up for this Friday, Dec. 17. We will not be doing a clinic next week as we will be closed at the end of the week for Christmas,” VanDeVelde said. “However, we will be doing another clinic Thursday, Dec. 30th. We are taking appointments for that now.”
