When Park County School District 1 staff returned to work today (Tuesday), and when students head back to school Wednesday, the facilities were already spic and span.

It might have been expected that a lot of additional cleaning and disinfecting would be conducted to head off any surge in COVID infections, but that isn’t really the case, according to district superintendent Jay Curtis.

Curtis pointed out the district protocols have involved cleaning and disinfecting surfaces at every school every day while they were in session. High touch surfaces — like door handles — are cleaned and disinfected several times each day and school buses are disinfected after each trip.

“With the schools being closed for two weeks and the virus not living on surfaces that long, we haven’t done extra cleaning,” Curtis said last week. He did note a deep cleaning of the hard floor surfaces on Dec. 22, after the schools shut down for the holiday break.

Cases of COVID-19 involving the district dropped somewhat following the Thanksgiving break. When Powell schools closed for the November holiday, there were about 85 individuals — either staff or students — who were quarantined or out with the virus itself. As of the last day of school before the Christmas break, Curtis said the number was down to around 50 who were either ill or in quarantine, out of 1,800 students and 350 staff members.

With the rollout of a vaccine against COVID-19, school personnel are being considered frontline workers.

“We are very excited to get the vaccinations started for our staff that want it,” Curtis said. The employees are considered part of the 1B population, behind emergency responders and healthcare workers. He believes the district will be in line for vaccines as soon as this week.

“We are coordinating a number of clinics so anyone on our staff who wants it [the vaccination] can get it,” Curtis said.

The school district is working with public health officials to set up those shot clinics.

Kindy Krei, nursing supervisor for Park County Public Health, said Monday the clinics are in the  planning stage.

“We are looking at either an in-person clinic or setting up drive-thrus like we did for the flu [shot],” Krei said. “We like to work with them to see what is the most convenient, to make it a little easier for them.”

Asked about a supply-chain disconnect in some areas for the vaccine, Krei said it was not an issue in Park County. The supply of the vaccine on hand, both for the first inoculations and the second, follow-up shot required for protection, is adequate.

“We at public health are doing fine in our supply,” she said. “We have both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines.”

The second set of shots for those who were inoculated in December is set to begin on Friday, she said. If a patient receives the first dose of the vaccine from one supplier,  Krei said the second dose should also be from that same manufacturer.