By Teri Knight, News Director
Seventeen students at St. Olaf College have been suspended for the fall semester after attending an off-campus party where masks were not worn and at least one student present was already infected with COVID-19. St. Olaf President David Anderson said, “This is the kind of reckless behavior that will put an end to our in-person semester, and it must stop”. School officials learned that people congregated at the party, did not wear masks and did not practice social distancing. “The predictable results ensued,” Anderson said. Fifty students need to quarantine. With those students exposed to COVID-19 at the party , they in turn “exposed innocent
students” such as their roommates. Anderson urged students to take all the precautions and honor a public health pledge they signed before arriving on campus. School officials also announced they administered more than 3,400 COVID-19 tests to students, faculty and staff as they reopened campus. Results from 3,055 tests have come back with a 0.3% positive rate. As of yesterday morning, the college had eight students who have tested positive. All St. Olaf students will be tested again in two weeks, with random testing throughout the semester. Students are also expected to complete daily health screenings before attending in-person classes. Beginning Sept. 3rd, the college will post a color coded daily COVID-19 alert level to inform the college community about the level of risk posed on campus.
Nfld Dist. Covid-19 mitigation strategies
With elementary students returning full time and the secondary grades in a hybrid model within the Northfield School District, there will be a lot more cleaning going on. Superintendent Dr. Matt Hillmann commented that they have a number of different mitigation strategies, “including wiping down surfaces frequently, which everyone is going to have to be able to assist us with. And then we have purchased several electrostatic cleaners, think of them as foggers that spray this very fine mist that is 99.9% effective against the coronavirus and other kinds of viruses”. Hillmann said the financial impact for schools is twofold, number one is how they’ll navigate the short term. They’ve received some coronavirus relief funds of which there are protocols around how those dollars are used. That will help purchase the necessary cleaning supplies and such. The long term cost, he said, is the $4.6 billion State deficit. The District is looking hard at how they can be as cost effective as possible as they look down the road.
“Super Shields” provide safety and facial expression
Local sewer and mask making goddess, Kathy Ness, is at again. She’s teamed up with Dr. Sandra Turbes to create clear shields. Turbes works mainly in Nursing Homes where many of the folks are hard of hearing. Turbes said she started to look around to find a face shield that could help her patients. Something with fabric sewed around the sides and bottom. Having heard of Ness through her Northfield Covid Response Supply Depot, she got in touch with her. They found designs and knew that the surgical fabric could be easily sewed to the plastic. One place online wanted $30 for one shield, Ness said they can make them for $2 a piece. She describes the mask, “we’re calling them super shields. They look a little bit like an astronaut or a welder or, like one little kid said, you look like a beekeeper”. While they’re still working on whether doctors in Turbes’ position can use these shields, they’re hopeful they can be used by teachers. With the shield on, Ness could easily be heard speaking into the microphone, she said, “the teachers are thrilled about it. Especially elementary ed and special ed (Turbes added) and language teachers even at the higher level. So we can start cranking them out and get them to the teachers in time for school starting”. They’re looking for people to cut fabric and sewers. Ness said it takes about 8 minutes to make one of the shields. Turbes said that Dr. Hillmann is interested in partnering with them and is checking on the rules. They currently have a Facebook fundraiser. I have a link to it and a picture of Ness wearing the shield on kymnradio.net.
