Mt. Vernon school board changing COVID-19 protocols based on the testimony of Dr. Dan Stock
Why are we having an outbreak of colds, flu and COVID in the middle of the summer when vitamin D is at its highest? How can people contract the virus when they have no contact with anyone?'
Mt. Vernon schools officials tabled a proposed update to its health and safety protocols and will contemplate other parts of the existing plan after receiving feedback from parents and a physician.
The debate comes as the school district records three COVID-19 cases and 72 close contacts exposed to those individuals since the start of the school year just over a week ago.
Dr. Dan Stock, a McCordsville resident and family medicine physician, said the measures Mt. Vernon has implemented and is considering adding are not useful. He added Indiana Department of Health and CDC recommendations are “contrary to the rules of science.”
Coronavirus and other respiratory virus particles are small enough to go through masks, Stock continued, adding vaccines will not be effective against COVID-19. He noted the virus is on the rise in the middle of summer, a time when respiratory viral syndromes are typically at their lowest. Stock also pointed to the COVID-19 outbreak last month in Provincetown, Massachusetts, the majority of which included vaccinated individuals.
Vaccines don’t prevent infection, just symptoms, Stock said.
“So you cannot stop spread, you cannot make these numbers that you’ve planned on get better by doing any of the things that you’re doing,” he said. “Because that is the nature of viral respiratory pathogens. And you can’t prevent it with a vaccine because they don’t do the very thing you’re wanting them to do. And you will be chasing this through the remainder of your life until you recognize the Centers for Disease Control and the Indiana State Board of Health are giving you very bad scientific guidance.”
Meeting attendees also questioned whether the school corporation is legally required to have close contacts quarantine at home. Parker said the corporation’s legal counsel advised that reporting positive cases, conducting contact tracing investigations and requiring un-vaccinated close contacts to quarantine is legally required, and that it’s a Class B misdemeanor for each day of noncompliance.
Parker also noted the school corporation has received 20 emails on the health and safety plan, seven of which ask for more restrictive protocols.
Mt. Vernon recorded just over 300 COVID-19 cases among students and staff throughout the 2020-2021 school year, with 1,775 close contacts. The district’s highest monthly totals per school ranged from five cases to 29.
Under the proposed additions to the health and safety plan, nine students/staff members not sharing a household who are COVID-positive in an elementary school, and 15 in a secondary school, would put the building in the orange tier, requiring masks to be worn inside. Parker said based on last year’s data, such a situation wouldn’t be likely unless under extreme circumstances.
“To trigger mask wearing in the orange tier, we believe that unless our numbers of COVID-positive cases increase considerably from last year, or they are all concentrated in a few short weeks, we’re not likely to get to the orange tier due to that reason,” he said.
In light of the comments and literature Stock provided, board members expressed a desire to hold off on considering adding COVID-positive totals as triggers to the tiered color system, and explore whether quarantining could be mitigated or avoided.
Board member Shannon Walls moved to table the matter for further discussion at the school board’s next meeting, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 16 in the school corporation’s administration building located at 1806 W. State Road 234, Fortville.
“I believe we have an obligation to, one, find the facts that were shared today,” Walls said. “We have not had a chance to review that information ourselves as a board. I think we have an obligation to our students to know what our academic plan is moving forward.”
The board approved the motion 4-0 with Walls, Chad Gray, Kellie Freeman and Tony May voting in favor. Phil Edwards was not present.
The decision only tabled the proposed addition of COVID-positive totals per school building to the health and safety plan. The rest of the plan remains in place, including quarantining measures.
