Health Officer Says There Will be COVID Cases in School

The quarterly Johnson County Board of Health meeting was held Tuesday afternoon at the historic courthouse.

During the meeting, County Health Officer Dr. Mark Schueler said preparations for schools to oen in the county are underway, and district officials, the school board, and administration have handled the issue well, but says there will be cases of COVID-19 this school year.

Dr. Schueler also discussed the city pool closure, saying one lifeguard was positive for COVID-19 and a number of others were close contacts, and with the few number of lifeguards available, it was decided to close the pool a week early.

Also of concern was possible concerns from the county fiar and rodeo, but after two weeks with no cases, he called it a safe and successful event, even though there were some concerns.

Dr. Schueler said he was hopeful a COVID-19 vaccine will be available closer to the first of the year as opposed to later, but its too early to tell.

Random testing has been happening at the Amie Holt Care Center and antibody testing on the healthcare workers which have all been negative so far.

Finally, he said the hospital has received COVID-19 federal funding and will be performing capital improvements with the funding.