March 13 updates of coronavirus' impact on U.S. deaf communities
Here are March 13 updates on the impact that the coronavirus pandemic has had on the U.S. deaf community.
The first -- the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind (AIDB) in Talladega will be closed from today until March 30 after an AIDB student was “potentially exposed” to COVID-19. I received an alert from someone from the AIDB community last night that there was an internal announcement about the potential exposure of COVID-19. I reached out to the school and received an email from a school spokesperson, Jacque Cordle. She said that AIDB was notified on yesterday (March 12) that one of their students was potentially exposed to COVID-19 while off campus. She emphasized that they currently don’t have a confirmed case of a student or a staff member with COVID-19 or any that exhibit symptoms of COVID-19. She said an Alabama state official announced this morning that Alabama has it’s first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Montgomery County (100 miles south of Talladega) and that it is not an AIDB student. AIDB said that out of an abundance of caution they decided to extend their spring break by one week and all students were sent home today. All AIDB campuses in Talladega and all statewide regional centers will be closed starting today at noon. Workers will return to work on March 29 and 30. Employees will receive their regular pay through the closure. AIDB will do a deep, thorough cleaning of every building, school bus and transportation van while staff and students are away.
A local news article from the Annistonstar.com reported that the family of the student alerted the school yesterday. It is unknown if the student is from the deaf school campus or the blind school campus. The student is quarantined at home.
So, it’s a potential exposure to coronavirus, but there is no confirmation if the student has COVID-19 or not.
The second update -- Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced that all schools would be closed for three weeks starting Monday. This affects the Ohio School for the Deaf and the Ohio State School for the Blind. School will resume on Monday, April 6.
The third update -- there are now multiple states announcing closures of their school programs, which affects deaf school programs. There are now over 20 deaf school programs that will be closed at least until the end of the month or into April. Some programs will conduct remote classes. I got an email from an anonymous person who created a nice spreadsheet of many deaf school programs in the U.S. and whether they were open or closed and for how long. The link is below in the transcript. The contact email for the spreadsheet is USADeafSchool@gmail.com. I do not know the identity of the person, but have checked the spreadsheet and the information is accurate as far as I know.
The Washington School for the Deaf, which is in one of the most hardest-hit states with the coronavirus pandemic, announced that the school campus would be closed until April 24. Their “Flying Hands” poetry competition was cancelled.
The fourth update -- three nationwide deaf events were either cancelled or postponed: Deaf, Inc.’s Deaf Visual Arts Festival in Missouri, the Northwest Deaf Basketball Tournament in Idaho, and the ASL Snowbomb 2020 in Colorado.
That’s all the updates I have for now. We see that the coronavirus pandemic affects every one of us, both deaf and hearing. If you have tested positive for coronavirus or know of someone in your immediate family who has, and are comfortable to share your story, you can send me a private message on “The Daily Moth” Facebook or send an email to alex@dailymoth.com.
That’s all for now. Stay with the light!
Deaf Schools Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSPP1sKD0qBWRlNE7JZ2l5v9r8SpYx1sI8-ZQz2Mojmx3qgB3LB5RkRYOtGf-zUGA/pubhtml?urp=gmail_link
AIDB: https://www.annistonstar.com/the_daily_home/free/breaking-aidb-student-potentially-exposed-to-coronavirus-school-closing-friday/article_ad631d6e-64ae-11ea-b166-13133fb7ca89.html
OSD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgE6kVh4K_A&feature=emb_title
WSD: https://www.wsd.wa.gov/home/wsd-campus-closed-march-16-april-24th/
Deaf, Inc: https://www.deafinc.org/dvaf/?fbclid=IwAR19AebIDwW9PmveU1nhFxv84sBxW3srx32NNHshQ39joJeoKCVOES6YJKo