COLOMBIA, SC (AP) – The superintendent of public schools in South Carolina said on Monday that she had tested positive for COVID-19, was experiencing “mild symptoms” but would continue to work from home.
Cases of the virus skyrocketed to record levels in South Carolina recently, and news of Superintendent Molly Spearman’s positive test came on the same day that 780,000 state school children returned to school after the holiday.
In a tweet, Spearman said he learned on Sunday that he had tested positive for the virus on December 31 and “is fortunate to have only mild symptoms”.
Spearman said she was already in quarantine after her husband and son tested positive earlier last week. While isolating, Spearman said, “I intend to continue working from home and meet virtually as many other people in the educational community have done this school year.”
A Department of Education spokesman said on Monday that Spearman was feeling fatigued and had attended several virtual meetings during the day.
Spearman, 66, has been head of the South Carolina public school system since 2015. Amid the ongoing pandemic, some schools are offering face-to-face classes, while many are using a hybrid of face-to-face and virtual classes.
Spearman is the most recent South Carolina civil servant who hired COVID-19. Just before Christmas, Governor Henry McMaster’s office announced that the 73-year-old Republican had tested positive and would receive outpatient treatment with monoclonal antibodies for “mild symptoms”. His wife, Peggy McMaster, 73, also tested positive but he was asymptomatic. A spokesman said on Monday that they were both “out of isolation and feeling good”.
Other South Carolina officials, including Lt. Governor Pam Evette and US representatives Joe Cunningham and Tom Rice, had previously hired and recovered from COVID-19, as well as Nancy Mace, the Republican who ousted Cunningham in the November elections. .
In mid-December, US Representative Joe Wilson also announced that he had tested positive for the coronavirus, on the same day he made a speech in the plenary in the Chamber of Deputies.
Also on Monday, health officials defended plans to distribute the coronavirus vaccine in South Carolina, while the state’s positivity rate rose to unforeseen territory.
South Carolina, which set daily case records last week, is marking more than 3,600 new cases a day, averaging seven days, almost double the state’s summer peak new cases that caused national alarm. The death toll in the state exceeded just 5,000 people.
On Monday, the Department of Health and Environmental Control reported that one in three people tested in the state tested positive for COVID-19. The goal at the beginning of the pandemic was to try to have only one positive test out of 20.
South Carolina has distributed more than 43,000 of the first of two doses of the Pfizer vaccine, or about 38% of the total supply, according to Dr. Brandon Traxler, the state’s interim director of public health. Statistics on how many doses of the Modern vaccine the state should expect have not been released by the federal government, Traxler said on Monday.
State health officials said they would follow a plan to first vaccinate health workers and nursing home residents, asking for patience while the twists are resolved in an unprecedented immunization plan that requires super-cold storage.
“It only takes a few weeks to get into a smooth rhythm,” said Traxler.
Lawmakers on both sides demanded quicker action. In a statement, state senator Nikki Setzler, D-West Columbia, called the authorities’ patience request “simply not acceptable”.
Republican Senator Tom Davis de Beaufort sent a letter asking Governor McMaster to use his executive authority to bring vaccines to pharmacies, expand eligibility and loosen regulations on who can apply vaccines, calling the current plan “too restrictive and bureaucratic” .
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Jeffrey Collins contributed.
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Meg Kinnard can be contacted at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.
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