Franklin Co. School Board to Hold ‘Emergency Meeting’ on COVID Monday

4 years ago Jamey Singleton

ROCKY MOUNT – The Franklin County School Board announced Sunday that it will hold an emergency meeting to discuss COVID Monday evening at 5:30 p.m.

The meeting will be held in the lower level of the school board office at 25 Bernard Road in Rocky Mount. COVID restrictions will be in place.

The meeting will be streamed live at www.frco.k12.va.us.

The announcement comes on the same day the high school’s athletic director announced the postponement of the upcoming week’s three JV and Varsity basketball games. Cable 12 learned the boys teams were quarantining for an unspecified amount of time.

Data posted by the Virginia Department of Health showed 9,914 new daily cases Sunday, a new record that far exceeds numbers since the pandemic started.

Franklin County as of Sunday, Jan. 17, had a total case count of 2,942. Of that there have been 95 hospitalizations and 28 deaths within the county from COVID.

Data posted on the Franklin County Public School’s website shows a total of 183 cases so far within the school system from both staff and students. Of that, there have been 44 student cases and 19 staff cases at Franklin County High School (FCHS). There have been 11 cases this month (January 2021) at FCHS.

Earlier this month, Franklin County officials sent an update out expressing concern over the rate of new cases locally. The update pleaded with citizens to continue to practice safety measures such as social distancing and good hygiene, along with the wearing of masks. At least one business in Franklin County has been warned by the Office of Governor Northam to meet the state’s mask requirements. Northam said in December that he had sent 83 letters out statewide to businesses suspected of violating the mask mandate.

As concern again grows in the community, the COVID vaccine is being administered locally. Nancy Bell with the West Piedmont District of the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) says their phones are literally ringing constantly from folks wanting to know if they are eligible.

Bell says everyone should visit the VDH website and go through the steps to getting in the system to get the vaccine. She said last week the area has increased by nearly 1,000 cases in 30 days.

Here’s the link again to determine if you are eligible for the vaccine and to be put on the list to get yours:

https://vdh.jebbit.com/amkwk6m1?L=Owned+Web&JC=Vaccinehttps://vdh.jebbit.com/amkwk6m1?L=Owned+Web&JC=Vaccine