SULLIVAN COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL)- While there are still no cases of coronavirus in Tennessee, that’s not stopping health departments and local schools from preparing for a possible case or outbreak.
On Monday, school officials in Sullivan County met with the Sullivan County Regional Health Department to discuss plans on what the schools should do if a coronavirus case were to happen in the school system.
Sullivan County Director of Schools, Dr. David Cox, was one of the people that attended the meeting.
“It was a combined meeting with Kingsport City Schools, Bristol City Schools, and Sullivan County Schools, and we got information directly from the Sullivan County Health Department. Hopefully, we won’t have cases in our area but if we do then we will be in close contact with the health department and make decisions together. If we should have incidences of coronavirus in the area then we will have discussions and make plans on how we’d respond to that,” said Dr. Cox.
Officials with the school systems said they want to be prepared.
Sullivan County Health Department officials said they’re in constant contact with the state about the virus.
“We are being briefed routinely from Nashville, the Tennessee Department of Health, they, in turn, are getting briefed by the CDC frequently. So we do have a continuous flow of information in all 95 counties in the state of Tennessee,” said Sullivan County Health Department’s Director Dr. Gary Mayes.
Mayes says that though corona is technically different than the flu, it behaves very similarly.
The Health Department says you should wash your hands with soap and water, use hand sanitizer, and stay away from people with cold and flu symptoms.
The school systems are making sure they have a plan in place.
“I think it’s obviously something to be concerned about and I think just knowing as much as we can about the virus itself from how to protect yourself,” said Dr. Cox.
Even as the coronavirus is a concern, the health department reminds people that you should get your flu shot.
Although it doesn’t help with coronavirus, it does help with the spread of the flu which is prevalent in our area right now.
