Amarillo ISD Kindergarten Student Dies After Contracting COVID-19
Educators and staff at Amarillo ISD confirmed one of their students died from COVID-19 last week.
According to the director of Public Health, Casie Stoughton, where they report local deaths said they are, “heartbroken and our thoughts and prayers go out to that particular family and any family who has lost someone here in our community."
Earlier this week it was reported that Amarillo ISD had the most COVID-19 cases in the Texas district. More cases than San Antonio and Corpus Christi, and other small districts in the state of Texas.
Amarillo ISD released a statement in response to the increase in numbers.
“The combined staff and student rate of COVID-19 in Amarillo ISD remains below two percent, even as cases in our community are surging. When comparing numbers to other school districts, it is important to remember Amarillo ISD is not only one of the larger school districts in the state, but we started school in-person much earlier than many of our other large peer districts in Texas. However, when we look beyond the sheer numbers and focus on the percentage, which is a more informative gauge, our in-person learner to student positive ratio is about 160 on the list, not number one. To be transparent and forthcoming with our families, we keep track of and post COVID data daily to our campus websites. We are also working on ways to help ensure our students or staff have better access to testing in the near future.”
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families, friends, educators, and anyone who has been impacted by this loss.