It appears that the current school year is over, during a press conference held on Thursday afternoon, Governor Kay Ivey issued a supplemental state of emergency –
Governor Ivey said that: “Public Health Orders are not a suggestion, they have been put in place to save your life, this is for real, and this is a deadly situation. Staying at home is the only way we can mitigate the spread of this virus.”
State Superintendent of Education Eric Mackey said that this is an unprecedented health crisis, one that the state has never seen before. Dr. Mackey had the
Dr. Mackey said “I appreciate the diligence of every parent and teacher as we deal with this unprecedented health crisis and the schools response to it and the leadership of our Governor that we know that her top priority is the health, safety and well being of our students, their families, faculty & staff and all the people all across the state of Alabama.”
In regards to senior proms and graduation ceremonies, Dr. Mackey had this to say –
State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris gave the following statement –
Dr. Harris reported that the first death in the state was in Jackson County and stated that his department was investigating additional death cases and that they will release further information when it is available.
Harris said that ADPH expects to see cases increase for quite some time and said that they plead with Alabamians to practice proper social distancing, good hygiene and continue to protect those that are high risk citizens.
Governor Ivey said that the state is trying to close the gaps for those that do not have access to broadband internet to be able gain availability to instructional materials available online. Ivey said that there has to be an alternative method to provide those materials to students that do not have broadband access and that there is an alternative plan being discussed with state superintendents to provide those correspondent packages course works to students.
To view the video from Thursday’s News Conference you can click the link below: