Wichita school nurses face breaking point as districts scramble to add mask mandates
Overloaded with the most COVID patients since January, Sedgwick County’s recent virus update painted a stark picture of a strained hospital system.
Now school nurses and parents are reporting a similar strain at Wichita schools and districts across the Wichita area are implementing mask mandates once again.
With added COVID testing at schools to keep ahead of potential outbreaks, some school nursing staff is reportedly overwhelmed, unable to keep up with everyday tasks like making sure students are getting their medicine.
A spokesperson for Wichita’s district said that while they were unaware of any instances where the staff was so overwhelmed by testing responsibilities that they were neglecting their regular duties, the district is aware of the problem and is monitoring a few schools where COVID-19 numbers are higher.
Currently, there are 181 hospitalized patients with COVID-19, 56 of whom are in intensive care units, according to the most recent numbers from the county. Just 40% of Sedgwick County residents are fully vaccinated, according to The New York Times vaccination tracker.
Wichita district sending reinforcements
The district has been working with school nurses and principals to send in additional resources to avoid situations where staff is overwhelmed, said Wendy Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Wichita school district.
Wichita schools are testing students if they’re symptomatic or if they were exposed, Johnson said, the latter of which has caused a heavy load on the system.
“If people don’t have masks on and there’s an exposure, that really impacts testing,” Johnson said.
The county health officer warned county commissioners weeks ago that schools could become overwhelmed by COVID-19 and forced to close. As hospitals are filling up with younger, sicker patients, Dr. Garold Minns, the county health officer, had asked for a mask mandate to help combat the COVID-19 Delta surge.
Commissioners voted along party lines against a mask mandate, with all three seated Republican voting against the safety measure recommended by dozens of local doctors.
Two of the commissioners who voted against the mandate, David Dennis and Jim Howell, did not return requests for comment. Pete Meitzner, one of the commissioners who voted against the mask mandate, was unable to comment as he is out of the office until next week.
Suburban schools begin to require masks
More localized or specific mandates have been appearing, however. A mask mandate for Wichita schools went into effect earlier this week that will hopefully reduce the amount of testing needed, Johnson said.
That mandate was passed unanimously by the school board.
“Masks make a difference,” Johnson said. “Masks reduce the spread and help us keep doing the activities we know they want to do, like keeping schools open.”
The Goddard school district joins a growing list of others in the Wichita area that have moved to universal masking requirements amid the surge in the Delta variant.
“It’s a concern all school districts have and we really need the community’s help. Schools are a reflection of their community and we need the communities to be as cautious about student health outside of school as we are within,” Johnson said. “We all need to hop on the train and do all we can to keep students and staff healthy.”
Within the first two weeks of this school session, Goddard has experienced more students who are positive for COVID or who have had close contact with someone who is than during almost all of 2020-21.
That messaged was reinforced in a district email to parents covering students in kindergarten through sixth grade.
“Masking is indeed a contentious and divisive issue within our society,” Dane Baxa, community relations director for Goddard schools, wrote in a Thursday night email. “We ask that we all work together to keep as many students as possible in school this year.”
This school year in Goddard began with 137 close contacts and 45 positive student tests for students in kindergarten through sixth grade.
The same grade levels in Goddard experienced 119 student close contacts and 62 positive student COVID-19 tests from Nov. 30 last year to May 27 this year.
“At this current rate, the district is unlikely to be able to continue the daily testing protocols needed to keep students in school,” the email to parents read. “This would result in students being out of school for at least 11 days every time they are considered an unmasked close contact.”
The Kansas Legislature moved this spring to severely limit school districts’ ability to implement remote learning. The new law dictates that districts may offer students no more than 40 hours of online learning throughout the school year.
Other area school districts have joined the movement to mask. The Andover school board voted Tuesday night to require face coverings for staff, students and visitors inside elementary buildings and other indoor spaces within the district. The Andover mandate took effect Friday and is slated to expire on Oct. 12.
Mulvane schools also moved to require masks for all students and staff while indoors, beginning Wednesday this week. The district will re-evaluate its decision on Sept. 27.
On Tuesday, the Mulvane district will also begin to offer in-house rapid COVID-19 testing from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
The Valley Center school district also this week began to require staff and students to wear face masks while on school property.
This story was originally published September 3, 2021 at 4:15 PM.
