Rock Hill Schools’ COVID-19 restrictions continue to weaken, with volunteers allowed back in schools, field trips no longer suspended and a less restrictive quarantine time in accordance with S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) guidelines.
Since Aug. 3, out of 16,272 in-person students in Rock Hill, 6,973 (42.85%) have been quarantined, and 986 (6.06%) have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Rock Hill Schools COVID-19 dashboard. New confirmed cases have been in decline in South Carolina since the peak in September, according to COVID-19 testing data from DHEC.
Rock Hill School Board Chairman Helena Miller said the school board had no idea what the numbers were going to look like this year because the virus can change quickly.
“When we ended last school year, I think we all had strong hopes that we were at the tail end of the virus. And that was not just our school district, it was everyone. I think in society, it was kind of hoping that, and then delta hit. So, in terms of speculations as to what we thought, it’s impossible to say,” Miller said.
On Oct. 4, the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the temporary suspension of the South Carolina rule banning schools from creating mask mandates until a lawsuit about the mandates is resolved. Despite its new ability, Miller said the board has not voted on a mandate, and as of Oct. 25, had no plan to.
“[T]here are no current plans to put it up for a vote, and, you know, that could change at any time. I will say that if you look at our current COVID dashboard numbers, we have been on a steady decline over the past six weeks or so. I think last week’s numbers were nine positive students out of close to 17,000,” Miller said.
While field trips are again active, policies are still in place to limit them to the county, which Miller hopes will give flexibility to the programs that need it.
Quarantine procedures have also been loosened in accordance with DHEC guidelines. At the start of the school year, a quarantine was a mandatory 14 days, up to 24 days for close household contact. The new policy requires a person to quarantine for five days after a close contact, then get tested. After two days, if the test is negative, the student can come back to school but is encouraged to wear a mask for the first week.
Vaccinated students are “basically exempt from quarantine procedures,” according to Miller. Children ages five to 11 are now able to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, according to an announcement made on Nov. 2 by CDC director Rochelle Walensky.
Katarina Moyon, director of the John C. West Forum on Politics and Policy and the mother of a high school student, said she believes the schools should be doing more to protect the children.
“I think that The Rock Hill School District should require masks for all students to protect the health and safety of their students and their teachers and staff,” she said. “I really don’t understand why the K-12 schools don’t do that. It’s not just about health. It’s also about respecting everyone else’s health.”
Despite her concerns, Miranda Knight, assistant dean of students, and mother of four, three of which are in the public school system, said she believes the schools did the best they could.
“I would not have been against them leaving the plexiglass and stuff in place for the kids,” she said. “But otherwise, I think they’ve done — from my perspective, from a parent’s perspective, and again, I do tend to wear rose–colored glasses, so I try to keep it positive — I think they’ve done well.”
