Carson City Boys and Girls Club closed this week due to COVID exposure, director discusses strict protocol
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Tue, 08/24/2021 - 10:55am
Carson City’s Boys and Girls Club of Western Nevada is closed until Monday due to a COVID-19 exposure which, according to Executive Director Katie Leao, the club takes very seriously.
“We’re very strict,” said Leao. “We require masks, which we provide if kids don’t have them, we’re still cleaning and sanitizing every hour, and we sanitize and deep clean the building every night.”
Children are kept in cohorts so that contract tracing and, if necessary, quarantine, is easier to achieve, according to Leao.
The reason for the closure, which will be the first since March of 2020, was due to a staff member who tested positive, and had directly exposed both children and staff member during a morning program.
Even though the majority of the club’s staff is vaccinated, they are still required to quarantine and test negative before returning to work and therefore, there simply weren’t enough staff members to run the club.
“This is the first time we’ve had to close,” said Leao. “We’ve been open since the end of March 2020. It just goes to how that masks work, and hygiene works.”
Temperature checks are also taken of all the children before they enter the facility, and any child who are symptomatic must quarantine.
While the majority of the staff is vaccinated, Leao would like to see the full club staff vaccinated, and they are working with Carson Tahoe Health to provide a doctor to come and answer questions and speak with any staff members who are still vaccine-hesitant.
When any child or cohort tests positive, the club will inform the school district, and vice versa, according to Leao.
While she hopes this will be the first and last time the club has to close due to exposure, she is concerned it may happen again if parents aren’t communicating with the school district or the club about possible positive tests or exposures.
Until vaccines are approved for children under 12, which are currently in trials,, the best protection against COVID-19 for children are masks, proper hygiene, and contact tracing, according to Leao, and the Boys and Girls Club is dedicated to keeping their members healthy.
In fact, there was a positive experienced due to the mask mandate and increase in hygiene: in normal years, said Leao, the club sees between 100 to 200 cases of flu and last year, they only saw two total cases.
“Masks and hygiene work,” said Leao.
To learn more about how you can protect yourself and your children from COVID-19, please visit http://www.gethealthycarsoncity.org/
