Richland District One COVID guidelines under review after holidays

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) – Record numbers of COVID cases across South Carolina and the spike comes as students and staff return back to school this week after the holidays.

Richland One Superintendent Dr. Craig Witherspoon says conversations about students returning began before the holiday break. “We were concerned about what would happen during the break in terms of spike in numbers.”

As of now witherspoon says protocols remains the same which include mask wearing, social distancing, cleaning, and contact tracing. The district will also continue offering on site testing on Tuesdays through a partnership with Prisma Health. 

“I had a conversation with Prisma Health officials even this morning to see how we might be able to ramp that up even more,” said Witherspoon. 

Recently S.C. DHEC issued new requirements that reduces the length of time for COVID-19 isolations and quarantines for students and staff at schools. Witherspoon says the guidelines are currently under review. “We’re still evaluating that to see for example if some of those quarantine days could be shortened and what kind of impact that’s going to have. So that is something we’re looking at literally right now and and hope to put out some of perhaps a revised or updated guidance based on that.”

Whiterspoon encourages students and staff can do their part as well.

“If any individual has not been vaccinated and or or boosted if you will, we know with Omicron and others that lessons again some of the symptoms and so forth. And that too is a strategy or a tool that we need to use with all of the safety protocols that we do,” siad Witherspoon.