Distributed Free On Fridays For 11 Years! November 13, 2020 www.pcpatriot.com Locally Owned And Operated Insuring You & Yours School attendance schedule changed as COVID cases rise Patriot Staff Report Pulaski County Public Schools on Wednesday announced it has confirmed two more cases of COVID-19 in county schools. The announcement also included a new attendance schedule in re- Karen Tuggle Brad Alley Lynn White sponse to the increased number of positive COVID cases in the Home • Auto • Life • Business community. Students with last names L-Z dance,” Siers said. “It is our hope According to School Superin- Attend on Thursday & Friday that we will be able to return to tendent Dr. Kevin Siers, the two 100 percent attendance in ear- latest confirmed COVID cases Monday, November 23-Tuesday, ly 2021 and we do ask that our involved students at Dublin El- November 24, 2020 parents and students assist us by ementary and Pulaski County All Virtual doing everything possible to help High School. reduce the risk of an outbreak Siers reported the student at Monday, November 30-Friday, within our schools.” Dublin Elementary was last in December 4, 2020 Siers offered a few steps that he school on Monday, Nov. 9, while All Virtual said can go a long way to getting 611 East Main Street the PCHS student was last present things back on track: on Thursday, Nov. 5. Monday, December 7 -Friday, 1. Continue to practice phys- Dublin, VA 24084 • 540-674-4678 Siers said it has been deter- December 11, 2020 ical distancing and mask wear- mined that proper mitigation Students with last names A-K- ing whenever you are in a public www.insurancecenterofdublin.com strategies were followed in the Attend Monday & Tuesday place or participating in large areas where the students were Students with last names L-Z scale gatherings. present. He added the schools Attend on Thursday & Friday 2. Quarantine whenever you WEEKEND WEATHER have been thoroughly cleaned and have symptoms of Covid, when- classes will continue as scheduled Monday, December 14-Friday, ever there has been a possible Saturday Sunday for the remainder of this week. December 18, 2020 exposure, and whenever you Mostly sunny, with a high near A chance of showers after 1pm. PCPS will continue to work with Students with last names A-K- have received a positive diagno- 59. Calm wind becoming south Partly sunny, with a high near the New River Health District Attend Monday & Tuesday sis. Parents – Please, under no around 5 mph in the afternoon. 65. Chance of precipitation is throughout their processes for Students with last names L-Z circumstances, should you send 30%. investigating and contact tracing Attend on Thursday & Friday your children to school if you Saturday Night - Partly cloudy, positive cases, he noted. have received a positive Covid di- with a low around 43. Sunday Night - Partly cloudy, As for the attendance change, “We will continue to assess our agnosis. They should quarantine with a low around 39. Siers stated, “Pulaski County community data during the win- with you at home. Unfortunate- Public Schools will be altering ter break, return at 50 percent for ly, this is happening with more its attendance schedule for the the first week or two, but have the frequency and it places everyone months of November and Decem- goal of returning to 100 percent at your child’s school at risk for ber due to the increasing number attendance before the end of the exposure. of positive Covid cases in our month, if possible,” Siers said. 3. Avoid or at least space out community, and the impact that Siers continued that the Pulaski celebrations during the holidays this is having on our ability to County School Board, adminis- with smaller group gatherings, staff our schools.” trators, teachers, and staff regret when possible. While we under- The new attendance schedule that this schedule change is need- stand that this is an important will be as follows: ed. time for families to be together, it Monday, November 16-Friday, “We have been extremely is also happening at a time when November 20, 2020 pleased with the progress that has the coronavirus seems to be get- Students with last names A-K- been made during the weeks that Attend Monday & Tuesday we’ve been at 100 percent atten- See COVID, page A3 Mayflower INSIDE Basketball Remembering the Champion Virginia picked 1st Mayflower landing NASCAR season in ACC Poll; No. 4 in Plymouth on ends energized with in AP Pre-season 400th anniversary. Elliott victory. Hoops Poll. Page A6 Page B5 Page B1 New Positions, Companies & Area Great Opportunity If You Great Opportunity If You Live Live In Barren Springs, Pulaski and Galax, Hillsville and Floyd. Wythe County Estimated Drive Time Is Estimated Drive Time Of 15-30 Minutes 40 Minutes Classifieds All Shifts • $10-$12 Hr. Plus Incentive Pay Machine Operator and Warehouse Immediate job openings in production, packer, warehouse, logisitics, auto tech, auto body, administrative assistant. FREE All Areas • All Shifts • $10-$17 Hr. Valley Staffing Inc. Call 540-808-3949 Wright Ave., Dublin, Va. SOMETHING TO SELL? TO SOMETHING 540-674-3103 We've Got Got We've Locally Owned & Operated • www.valleystaffingjobs.com Page A2 - The Patriot - November 13, 2020 School Board Recognitions Several individuals were recognized Tuesday evening by the Pulaski County School Board for the month of November. Heller receives Leadership Award Congratulations to Mrs. Stacey Heller for receiving the Regional Leadership Award. At the annual meeting of the Virginia Association of Federal Education Program Administrators (VAFEPA) conference, she received the Regional Leadership Award for Region VII. Stacey has served as a teacher, school administrator and division administra- tor for Pulaski County Public Schools. Stacey has worked for Pulaski County Public Schools for 23 years and has coordinated the Title I federal program for 3 years. We are fortunate to have Stacey as an employee in Pulaski County Public Schools. Pledge of Allegiance Critzer Elementary is pleased to introduce Christopher Trueheart as our school’s representative to lead the Pledge of Allegiance at the No- vember, 2020, School Board Meeting. Christopher is the son of Dean and Toni Trueheart.Christopher is a delightful 4th Grader to have in class and has a great sense of humor. He has made outstanding im- provements both academically and behaviorally this year, and we are so proud of him. He is a model student of our school and shows good citizenship daily. He currently has straight A’s in all subjects. Pulaski County Public Schools photos The Patriot - November 13, 2020 - Page A3 COVID Continued from Page A1 ting out of control. Small family gatherings, spaced a few weeks apart, will reduce the chances of an outbreak within families and will give participants enough time between events to deter- mine if symptoms will develop that result in a Covid test being needed. Confirmed COVID-19 cases have jumped in the county in the last month. According to daily COVID-19 status updates from the New River Valley Public Health Task Force, Pulaski County reported 188 confirmed cases on Septem- ber 15. That number grew to 254 as of October 15. As of Wednes- day, that number had increased to 386 – a jump of 132 cases. As of mid-September, the county had recorded 13 hospi- talizations. That number grew slightly a month later in October to 15. This week, the number of hospitalizations had nearly dou- bled to 27. Deaths in the county have grown from 3 in September to 5 in October to 8 this week. All these numbers are cumu- lative since March 2020. Northam: State to boost COVID testing capacity RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — As During a news briefing, testing capacity by about one- pears to be driven in part by small cine and administer it to citizens COVID-19 cases continue to Northam was asked several times third — from a current average of gatherings of family members who here in the Commonwealth,” Oli- surge in Virginia and across the whether the current surge and about 20,000 tests per day to about do not live in the same household. ver said. country, Gov. Ralph Northam fears about even higher numbers 27,000 tests per day by the end of They’ve also blamed inconsis- Officials have stressed that it is on Tuesday announced plans to during the holidays could prompt the year. tent mask wearing, outbreaks at unlikely any vaccine will arrive significantly increase statewide him to impose new restrictions The media campaign in rural churches and in-person schooling. much before the end of the year, testing capacity and to launch or a lockdown like the one he or- southwest Virginia will include Northam and State Health limited initial supplies will be ra- a media campaign in southwest dered in the spring. messages on billboards and gas Commissioner Dr. Norm Oliver tioned and it could take months to Virginia, which has seen a sharp Northam said he is focusing pump toppers, and in newspapers said they were encouraged by the distribute it widely. rise in cases over the last month. on mitigation efforts and con- and social media. The messages announcement by Pfizer Inc. on When asked during his news The moves come three days tinuing to encourage people to will be aimed at emphasizing that Monday that its COVID-19 vac- briefing how alarmed Virginia after Virginia reported 2,103 new wear masks and practice social the virus, which at first largely cine may be 90% effective, based residents should be at the rising cases — its biggest single-day in- distancing. He said he is not cur- spared the area, has now hit it hard.