CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The head of our local school union is calling on CCISD to go back to virtual learning on January 5. That would be on a temporary basis after our positive COVID-19 cases shot up to 438 on December 31.
RELATED: Nueces County reports 438 new COVID-19 cases on last day of 2020, Judge Canales releases a statement
Dr. Nancy Vera is the president of the American Federation of Teacher's union. She said she has asked Corpus Christi ISD Superintendent Dr. Roland Hernandez to delay the start of face-to-face instruction for the first two weeks of the new year.
"We’ve asked them to wait two weeks because after those two weeks there’s an intercession period, a week, and if someone has been at a family gathering or something that should give enough time for a quarantine,” Vera said.
The superintendent told 3News they are paying close attention to the numbers, but they have not decided to make any changes right now.
Dr. Hernandez says that 50-percent of students should be back in the classroom setting and any of those students can elect to go back to virtual learning, if they want, according to the superintendent.
Dr. Hernandez also said he’s anxious to get his teachers and staff vaccinated and was disappointed they weren’t included in the first round of shots.
"We are working with all the superintendents of all the ISD‘s in Nueces County, they are all eager for the majority of their staffs to get vaccinated," Health Director Annette Rodriguez said.
"Again, it’s on a voluntary basis and they want to get vaccinated and we’re looking at, can we accommodate them by going to Buc Stadium or Veterans Memorial or even West Oso High School and vaccinate them quickly through that process and with all the ISD’s getting vaccinated."
Nueces County Judge Barbara Canales is also concerned about our huge rise in positive COVID cases and wants to get school staff vaccinated quickly.
"I want all of our school nurses vaccinated, they are within the tier 1A," Canales said.
"In addition, I’m advocating for that 1B tier to open up as soon as possible, which I believe will be next week my goal is to protect his many people as we can.”
Rodriguez said unfortunately, there’s not enough vaccines available right now to get teachers and school staff vaccinated.
The next shipment of vaccines could arrive on Jan. 5 or 6, but more than likely that is going to be used to vaccinate folks in nursing homes.
For the latest updates on coronavirus in the Coastal Bend, click here.
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