KERSHAW COUNTY, S.C. — Students in Kershaw county will head back for face to face learning on Wednesday.
This just a day after DHEC releases the highest numbers yet for the virus, including the fact that the state has now passed 10,000 daily cases for the first time.
The district says it will be working to keep students safe, while allowing them to make decisions for themselves to be either masked or vaccinated.
Kershaw County School Superintendent, Shane Robbins, said, "We are actually doing extra sanitation walk-throughs before students return."
This is one of the first steps the district will be taking to prevent record-high infections.
Robbins also said following the CDC's guidelines will be their next step including the new protocol they just released over the last several weeks.
And if a student has had a "close contact" encounter, he said, "it will depend on if another student is masked or is vaccinated and also depends on who is in their radius, but we have plexiglass up to help as well,".
"We were one of the first counties to pick up e-Learning about four years ago,". Students will have access to teachers' lesson plans online and recorded classes so if they are exposed they won't fall behind in their studies.
He goes on to say that the district has added there are other implementations as well "we added the UV lighting system on our school buses that is 99.9% effective in killing the COVID virus and some other viruses". Some schools will have new air systems, "we did purchase some air purifiers for band and choir rooms because you know when they play an instrument or they are singing there's that chance their particles are spit into the air,".
He said they are also encouraging students and faculty to get vaccinated.