Following the Nov. 2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approval of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for 5- to 11-year-olds, children in Montezuma County are getting vaccinated — and schools are promoting the shots.
The Mancos School District RE-6 sponsored a vaccination clinic Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 200 people were vaccinated.
Mancos Schools isn’t alone in promoting the Pfizer vaccine for children — the Montezuma-Cortez School District RE-1 promoted the Mancos clinic, as well as a drive-up clinic hosted by Southwest Memorial Hospital also on Saturday, in social media and website posts and email newsletters.
The Dolores School District RE-4A also announced on its website the Saturday clinic at Southwest Memorial and a mobile vaccine bus at Joe Rowell Park, which it was originally going to host, Nov. 17 and Dec. 8 from 2 to 7 p.m.
“As a school district, our number one goal is to stay in person and make sure students and staff are happy, safe, and productive. This huge vaccination clinic today helps us to achieve this goal. I appreciate the resiliency of our community and their commitment to a Mancos education,” Mancos Superintendent Todd Cordrey said in a statement.
The school currently only has one active case of COVID-19, he said Saturday.
The case was identified in the school’s weekly, voluntary COVID-19 testing Monday, he said. More than 300 students were tested this week. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment introduced the free testing program to schools statewide this year, and offers monetary incentives to students who test.
About two weeks ago, the school saw the peak of its virus cases, with a total of 14 student and teachers cases, Cordrey said.
Nobody who fell ill with the virus in the district has been hospitalized, and those infected displayed mild symptoms or were asymptomatic, said district nurse Sharon Martinez.
Last week, the district installed 54 air filtration devices, which are recommended by CDPHE, she said.
Martinez conducts contact tracing for the district, and Cordrey said both he and Martinez receive text messages from the county whenever there are new cases in the schools.
The Mancos School District has been luckier than other districts in more populated areas of the state, Martinez said.
“The parents are real good, they call right away,” she added.
She said the district hasn’t experienced a surge in the flu, either.
Montezuma-Cortez schools were closed down for almost two weeks beginning Oct. 27 after a climb in virus cases and facing resulting workforce shortages. The district saw 707 of its 2,822 students quarantined. The RE-1 district reported 51 positive cases of COVID-19 among staff and student Oct. 26. The district announced that day that five students had been hospitalized, and among school staff, 21 tested positive and two were hospitalized.
Dolores schools also moved to remote learning for a week in early October when virus cases climbed.
Mancos schools have not closed this school year.
Masks are optional in all Montezuma County schools.
Denver Public Schools are closed Nov. 19 to encourage students and their families to get the vaccine.
Marc Meyer, director of Pharmacy and Infection Prevention at the hospital, was unavailable for comment Friday afternoon.
As of Friday, Montezuma County has seen 155 new coronavirus cases, according to CDPHE data. Four people have died since Nov.1.
On Friday, CDPHE began sending text and email notifications to parents of children ages 5 to 11 now eligible to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. The messages are from number ‘45778’ and feature links with information on appointment scheduling.
On Wednesday, CDPHE introduced age breakdown to a tracking tool that compares rates of coronavirus between vaccinated and unvaccinated residents.
