Yancey County's own Sadie Kneidel was published in HuffPost on September 15th, expressing both her love of the public school system in the county but also her frustrations and sheer exhaustion resulting from the local school board's refusal to implement a mandatory masking policy in the midst of a critical COVID surge in the area.
Sadie Kneidel is a parent, writer, and naturalist living in the South Toe Valley of Yancey County. She is proud to provide Spanish-language services to her local community in western North Carolina.
On September 22nd Bruce Ikard of WKYK/WTOE Radio interviewed Kathy Amos, Yancey County Schools Superintendent, and Diane Creek, Toe River Health District Director, together for a two-part "Close-Up" podcast regarding COVID numbers, updates, and guidance for public health and safety.
The recommendations from both officials to avoid quarantine include mask-wearing, although this is not currently part of the Yancey County Schools' mandatory policy for students and staff. If a masked student is exposed to an unmasked positive case, the masked student still must quarantine. At the time of the interview, over 300 students and staff were in quarantine.
The September 29th edition of the Yancey Times Journal featured two front page articles titled "Board rejects masks to cut down on covid and quarantine of students/staff" by Jody Higgins and "NCDHHS Quarantine Guidelines for the 2021-2022 school year". The articles highlight even more problems stemming from the the lack of a mandatory school mask policy, and how they could be reduced by following health officials' guidance.