March 13th has been dubbed “the day the world ended” by humanity after COVID-19 caused a global pandemic and closed down society. However, through many bumps in the road, the United States and the State of Wisconsin have been focused on returning to life as normal. The following statement also goes for schools. After missing out on the final nine-weeks of classes in-person, the spring sports season, club competitions, and many other highly-anticipated events, the students and teachers of Mineral Point are ready to get back to school. However, a full return to school was put into question with a new spike in Coronavirus cases as states began to open.

Here are the current numbers (as of 7/22/2020) from the Wisconsin DHS:

Iowa County:

Positive Cases: 54

Deaths: 0

Wisconsin:

Positive Cases: 44,847

Deaths: 865

Georgia Tech Study

Recently, Georgia Tech University, in coordination with Applied BioInformatics Library, put out a study that would show you the probabilty of running into a person that has COVID-19 by group size in your county. Currently, data shows that if you were in a group of 25 people (close to the size of a class), you would have a 13% chance of meeting somebody who is positive for COVID-19. However, this would obviously go down with the use of a mask and following social distancing guidelines.

Mineral Point’s Hybrid Model

On Monday night, the Mineral Point School Board voted 5-2 to move forward with a “hybrid model” going into the 2020-21 school year. As of today, here is how the plan would work for High Schoolers and Middle Schoolers.

-Each day of the Week, there would only be one Middle and one High School Class in the Building at Once

-The Building would be Closed to full Classes on Wendesday for a Chance for Deep Cleaning

-7th-12th Graders would have In-Person Instruction ONCE per week, with 6th Graders going to the building TWICE per week

-Classes would be split into Small Groups that they would be taking All of their Classes with to Avoid the Spread if a Student were to Contract the Virus

-For the remaining Four days of the Week, Students would be partaking in Online Classes from their Homes

-If any family does not Feel Comfortable with sending their Student to School, they would have an option for 100% Virtual Instruction

-This plan is Fluid, meaning that it will be Revisited often and Changed as Needed

For more COVID-19 coverage, check pointermedia.org for articles on what the headlines mean for you.