Second shots boost Lorain County schools back toward normal

A weight lifted from Ed Weber's shoulders Friday as he rolled up his sleeve to get the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. "I felt good after shot one," the Wellington Schools superintendent said, "and going from about 50 percent (protection) to more than 90 feels super." Weber was one of nearly 6,000 school employees across Lorain County who got the booster shot, giving students across the county the day off Friday. Clinics were held at the Lorain County Joint Vocational School, Lorain High School, Elyria High School, North Ridgeville Academic Center and Avon Middle School. About 100 school employees were on spring break or had schedule conflicts, and they will be part of other clinics, county Health Commissioner David Covell said. About 80 percent of the adults who work in schools in Lorain County have chosen to be vaccinated by the health department, he said, with the total actually higher since others have opted to get shots on their own through pharmacies or hospitals. "I think it's a little higher than the general population in terms of people who want the vaccine, so I think that's very good," Covell said. Lorain County Public Health did not have figures Friday breaking down how many employees in each school or district chose to be vaccinated. According to tracking by the Ohio Department of Health, 923 students and 475 staff members at Lorain County schools have tested positive for the coronavirus over the past year. Avon Lake by far had the most student cases with 158, while North Ridgeville just topped the staff cases count with 65, edging out Lorain and Elyria. Those numbers don't reflect the many more people who were quarantined after being exposed to others who tested positive. Now educators are trying to figure out what the rest of the school year will look like as vaccination rates climb and case counts fall. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxed the rules for social distancing in classrooms, saying students are fairly safe being 3 feet apart instead of 6 feet. Covell said he's advised district superintendents they can start gradually, carefully removing some plexiglass dividers that were installed as barriers against the virus, and class sizes can grow. Midview Schools has told parents that beginning April 6, desk dividers will be optional for students and teachers, but that distance will be maintained "as close to 6 feet as possible." Elyria Schools Superintendent Ann Schloss said there were lots of smiles Friday after employees got the second dose. "It's one more step back to normal, the new normal, whatever that may be," she said. "We feel good about it." The district, which stayed mostly on a hybrid model during the pandemic, already had returned high school students to four days a week, and recently expanded that to elementary students. Schloss said there will be some elements of education that will never be the same after the pandemic. She said Elyria learned a lot over the last year, and has things it wants to continue to do. That includes increasing the use of technology for learning. Not so much virtually, Schloss said, but there are programs that can help students learn better and differently. About 80 percent of Elyria Schools staff received the vaccine at the clinic, Schloss said. Others have gotten vaccinated at other places. Elyria High School also will continue to be the site of vaccination clinics open to the public throughout the next month. Schloss said she wants to use the high school as a community resource to help get residents vaccinated. Weber said there is excitement among Wellington Schools staff that classes will look much more traditional this spring as pandemic precautions are scaled back, and even more so in the fall. "I think these vaccinations bring back more normalcy to our lives — to have fun, to enjoy life together, to talk to your classmates or fellow teachers," he said. "We just can't wait." Covell said the tipping point will be when the general public's vaccination rate hits 50 percent. As of Friday, 3.1 million Ohioans had received at least one COVID-19 vaccination dose. That's 26.67 percent of the population. In Lorain County, more than 84,500 people or 27.28 percent of the population had started vaccinations. "We're getting closer to 50 percent here in Lorain County, and I think we're going to get there in April," Covell said. Contact Jason Hawk at news@lcnewspapers.com. Contact Laina Yost at lyost@chroniclet.com.