BCSC gets first numbers on mask-wearing compliance

Bartholomew Consolidated Schools are adding a new number to their COVID-19 calculations — the percentage of mask compliance in the schools.

At this week’s school board meeting, Superintendent Dr. Jim Roberts gave an update on the district’s COVID-19 statistics and the current state of the school district’s mitigation efforts.

One of the metrics the school district has planned to track is the percentage of those in the buildings wearing their masks, and wearing them properly Roberts said. The first tallies are now available, he said.

Administrators have tallied 95 percent compliance across the schools, he said.

The majority of those tallied without a mask were actually wearing a masks incorrectly, such as below their nose, he said. There were also instances where the youngest students had masks that were simply to large for their face, Roberts said.

Roberts said that the district, and the community, is current seeing either no spread or minimal spread of the disease. The district staff and students have not had a positive test result for COVID-19 since before Aug. 31st, he said.

Overall the district has had 22 positive test results — 14 students and 8 staff members. However, only four of those were students or staff that were actually in the school buildings.

Roberts said the biggest challenge is finding ways to maintain physical distancing in the school buildings.