Expect virtual school days as mass vaccinations planned for teachers, SC district says

Greenville County schools will sponsor COVID-19 vaccination clinics in the coming weeks for its teachers, requiring students who have been in face-to-face instruction to revert to e-learning.

In all, 6,100 of the district’s 10,000 employees have signed up to be vaccinated.

Greenville County schools are partnering with Bon Secours St. Francis Health System to administer the vaccines.

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control announced vaccinations will be open for Group 1B, which includes teachers, on Monday.

Tim Waller, spokesman for Greenville County schools, said the district does not know when the vaccine will arrive or if Bon Secours will get the number of doses requested.

But when the clinics occur, it will require schools to be closed for two days. It could happen on short notice, the district said in a notice to parents Thursday, asking them to make childcare arrangements in advance.

At the clinics, school district nurses will give the shots while Bon Secours medical personnel are on hand at Woodmont and Greer high schools, Waller said.

Bon Secours administrators have been working on the clinic plan for a few weeks. Dr. Marcus Blackstone of Bon Secours told the school board last week that district employees’ interest is higher than the 40-50% they normally see in workplace clinics.

“We were excited about that,” he said.

Waller said district officials wanted to make vaccines available to teachers in a seamless, convenient way.

“We feel a responsibility,” he said, noting that teachers have expressed concern since the beginning of the school year about the risks associated with face-to-face instruction.

About 52,000 Greenville County students are attending school in-person, and 22,000 are in virtual instruction full time. Last week, the school board heard from a Charleston County pediatrician who works in infectious disease who said her studies show the risk of COVID-19 transmission in schools is low.

While Greenville County’s infection rate has declined, it remains high at an average of 138 new cases a day reported over the past two weeks. Nearly 72,000 initial vaccine doses have been given in the county and 17,000 second doses since vaccinations began in December.

Greenville County has led and continues to lead the state in overall numbers of COVID-19 cases.