(Atlantic) Atlantic School Superintendent Steve Barber says the Iowa Department of Public Health’s latest COVID 19 guidelines is similar to the guidelines released this past spring.
Barber says the Atlantic School system is treating COVID as a childhood illness just like anything else. He says the IDPH stated in its’ latest guidelines; vaccination is the best mitigation strategy. “We encourage all of our people to get a vaccination,” said Barber. “Not only as a prevention measure, but limits the severe conditions, or even death.”
Mr. Barber says the district will follow the guidelines approved by the school board this past spring. He says district custodians will repeatedly clean all buildings, encourage good hygienic practices, and require staff to stay home if they have one or more symptoms of COVID-19. “We have rapid testing so we can eliminate some of the absentees that go along with COVID and quarantine,” said Barber. “There is no close contact mitigation so we’re going to do everything in our power to keep people safe, and we encourage everyone to take individual responsibility moving forward.”
Governor Kim Reynolds signed a bill in May that bans mask mandates in schools.