MRA football players catch COVID

The Madison-Ridgeland Academy preseason football jamboree scheduled for tomorrow has been canceled after two Patriots tested positive for COVID-19. 

Earlier this week, MRA officials announced that 19 players in total had been placed in quarantine after coming into contact with the positive players.

MRA opened its doors last week for orientation, and their first full day was last Friday for Pre-K3-12th grade. 

“We’ve worked very hard over the past several months to make sure it’s safe for students,” said Termie Land, head of school at MRA. “We have protocols for different situations at different times. A couple of students have already tested positive, and if they do, they’re quarantined for 14 days.” 

Along with the two-week quarantine for positive cases, MRA also quarantines students who were near the person with that positive case. 

“Anyone we term as ‘exposed’ is quarantined for five days, and they are allowed to return if they are symptom-free on the last three days, and have a negative virus test result,” Land said. “We do not accept antibody testing, only antigen and PCR tests.” 

Land said that despite the positive test, MRA has done a good job so far with following procedures. 

“We feel like we’ve had a successful beginning, as we’ve stuck to protocol with our contact tracing,” he said. “We make sure students and faculty wear masks all day long, and eat lunch in classrooms.”

Land noted the ways MRA is following social distancing guidelines. 

“There’s certain routes students take to get to classes, and we have dots on the floor where students can stand and still be properly social distanced,” he said. “For extra safety, we have lunch for elementary school kids delivered to their classrooms, while middle and high school get lunch from the cafeteria and take it back to class.”

Land said MRA also has specific guidelines on closure if the virus persists. 

“The recommendations are that if you have three infections in a group, you close that group. If you have more than three groups with infections, you close down that division,” he said.  

Land is confident in MRA and its procedures to operate safely during the pandemic. 

“We’ve worked hard with our plans and we feel like we can conduct school safely,” he said. 

Madison County Schools delayed the start date for mid-September and Canton Public Schools have moved to virtual only for the foreseeable future. 

Other area private schools began classes this week. 

New COVID-19 cases across the U.S. and Mississippi have dropped by 19 percent in the last two weeks, however.

State Health Officer Dr. Thomas E. Dobbs III on Tuesday urged Mississippians to keep their foot on the pedal and don’t ease up on wearing masks and social distancing. He said the virus is “not going anywhere soon” urging state residents to “stick with it for a while.”

Gov. Tate Reeve’s said Tuesday the state’s success is going to depend on the ability to drive the numbers down by being vigilant “being smart” and not gathering in large groups, wearing masks and social distancing.

Mississippi had its highest daily case numbers peak over 1,600 near the end of July.

In Madison County, 126 cases have been identified in the last week, bringing the total here to 2,489.

On Wednesday, the Mississippi State Department of Health announced 1,081 new cases of COVID-19, along with 45 new deaths.

In total, 69,374 Mississippians have either been confirmed or presumed to have COVID-19, with 1,989 total deaths. 

The state remains under a mandatory mask order issued by Gov. Tate Reeves last week in the latest attempt to slow the spread of the virus. 

Mississippians are also under a statewide public health order that requires anyone who has tested positive and not in the hospital to isolate immediately or face fines or possible jail time. 

Failure to comply can result in a minimum misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $500 or six months imprisonment or both. When a life-threatening disease is involved, failure to obey is a felony, punishable by a fine up to $5,000 or five years imprisonment or both.

As of Tuesday, the state reported 72 COVID-related deaths in Madison County, up 12 from 60 last week. There have been 206 cases in long-term care facilities and 37 deaths. Half of the new deaths in Madison County this past week occurred in long-term care facilities.

The MSDH is reporting statewide that hospitalizations have declined from 977 to 956 since last week, with ICU patients down from 337 to 325. Ventilator usage remains idle at 196. 

The MSDH is estimated that 49,836 are presumed to have recovered from COVID-19.