Clinton County Health Officer Dr. Steve Tharp announced late Friday afternoon that all four schools in Clinton County will be closed for the next three weeks beginning Monday, March 16.
Tharp and some local officials met in an emergency meeting at the Clinton County Courthouse Friday afternoon where Tharp read from a prepared statement which is as follows:
“As Clinton County Health Officer, I am suspending classes and other school activities during the period of March 16, 2020, through and including April 5, 2020. Activities will resume on April 6, 2020, unless conditions require an extension.
“Careful consideration of the needs of schools, students, parents and the community by representatives of the Clinton County Health Department, school officials, Clinton County Commissioners and the Mayor of Frankfort was instrumental in deciding on this course of action.
“The reason this action is necessary is the rapid progression of infection by COVID 19, the infection caused by the novel coronavirus. At this time there is no specific treatment available for this condition. The most effective prevention is by hand washing, sanitizing surfaces with cleansing product that can kill the virus and limiting exposure to the virus. One of our greatest concerns is exposure of a large number of people to the virus. The best way to reduce possible exposure is to limit contacts in large groups such as schools.
“The Frankfort City and Clinton County Government offices will remain open and we anticipate no change in services.
“I encourage all persons to wash your hands with soap and water frequently. Hand sanitizer is an acceptable substitute. Avoid unnecessary contact with other people and try to stay at least six feet from any other person. Avoid hand shaking or other forms of skin to skin contact greetings.
“The school corporations have contingency plans for continuing educational activities and other essential services. Please contact your individual schools for questions you may have.
“I want to thank everyone for their cooperation and assistance with our efforts to keep everyone as safe as possible.”
Sincerely,
Stephen D. Tharp, M.D.
On Thursday, Tharp stated that schools should stay open at a meeting of school and health officials at the Community Schools of Frankfort Administration Building. He changed that stance on Friday.
“One of the most important (reasons) is that other communities around us have chosen to go ahead and close schools,” said Tharp. “This is important because if we don’t close schools and the communities around us do, and then a spike occurs, that might be because we’re not acting fast enough.”
Tharp said another reason is because Governor Eric Holcomb wanted to limit large groups of people from being in one place to no more than 250. That would most likely include all schools in that scenario.
Tharp also said that people could show signs of the virus in 2-3 days. He added the average period is 5-6 days with 97.5 percent of the cases showing signs in 11 1/2 days.