Increasingly, Lexington doctor sees unvaccinated teachers on oxygen and ventilators

An increasing number of unvaccinated teachers are in a local hospital on ventilators and oxygen, a Lexington infectious disease specialist told CNN over the weekend.

Mark Dougherty, an infectious disease specialist and hospital epidemiologist at Baptist Health Lexington, also told the Herald-Leader Sunday that his practice, Lexington Infectious Disease Consultants, has treated many teachers since the beginning of the pandemic — both in person and as consultants by phone.

In recent weeks, they have seen that number rise as more and more unvaccinated teachers are hospitalized, he said. Lexington hospitals routinely treat patients who reside outside Fayette County.

“The dynamic we are seeing now with the highly contagious Delta variant is that kids are spreading it around at schools, and then they are spreading it to their teachers,” he told CNN.

“In fact, teachers are one of the highest occupation patients we’re seeing in the hospital. We have teachers on ventilators. We have teachers on high-flow oxygen, most of whom haven’t been vaccinated,” said Dougherty.

Dougherty told the Herald-Leader that the teachers’ histories indicate they were exposed to a COVID-positive student: “That is clearly a reason to mask in schools.”

The Republican-controlled Kentucky General Assembly approved Thursday Senate Bill 1 that eliminates the state’s mask mandate in K-12 schools.

Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, vetoed the bill late Thursday night, but the legislature overrode his decision. The bill carried an emergency clause, which means it took effect immediately.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Dougherty said of lifting the statewide school mandate. “We’re very disappointed in the proportion of the population that’s been vaccinated, especially in some parts of the state.”

He said in Fayette and some surrounding counties, the vaccination rate is higher than the national average, but it’s only about 25 percent in some Kentucky counties.

“That means a large proportion of people are potentially going to get the virus very soon. With this Delta variant, it’s so contagious that if you haven’t been vaccinated, you’re going to get infected,” Dougherty said,

“Unfortunately, the children below 12 can’t be vaccinated,” said Dougherty. “They’re going to get it going back to school. We have to have kids going back to school. Children fare very poorly being in remote learning situations, and we really can’t do that type of social distancing anymore.”

“If we are not doing the social distancing, we have to implement other measures and that is really masking. We know that the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended masking for any child over 2,” he said.

Dougherty said not every child will keep the mask on, but masks lower risks.

Earlier in the pandemic, children were playing a minor role in transmitting the virus, he said. Due to the contagiousness of the Delta variant, kids are now playing a major role in the transmission of the virus.

In Fayette schools on Friday, 1,158 students and one staff member were in quarantine, according to the district’s COVID-19 dashboard. There were 32 new positive COVID student cases and three new staff cases.

“We really need more cooperation in terms of the masking. I know that the masking has been controversial. I think that’s been a huge mistake. We can see in the hospital that masks work,” Dougherty said referring to the protection masks have given health care workers.

On Friday, Beshear said he was reporting Kentucky’s fifth-highest day of newly reported COVID cases, with 5,197, and a record day for hospitalizations and Kentuckians in the intensive care unit.

“We are in a dangerous place. Please, help us encourage folks to get vaccinated and make sure to mask up indoors,” Beshear said on social media.

President Joe Biden on Thursday called on governors to require vaccinations for all teachers and staff.

Biden said 90 percent of school staff and teachers nationwide are vaccinated, but the percentage should be higher. That percentage could be lower in some states where vaccines haven’t been widely adopted.

Kentucky education department officials did not immediately comment Sunday on how many school staff members and teachers have been vaccinated.

The department said Friday it would use up to $8.8 million in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds to provide reimbursements to districts that have paid employees to get vaccinated.

All full- and part-time employees of public school districts are eligible for a one-time vaccination incentive payment of $100 after being fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The reimbursement applies to previously vaccinated employees as well as those who get fully vaccinated by Dec. 1, 2021.

There will be enough funding to reimburse districts for approximately 88,000 local school district staff.

“Getting people vaccinated is one of the main ways we’re going to be able to get out of this pandemic and get back into our classrooms as usual,” said Commissioner of Education Jason E. Glass. “We hope this will encourage people to get vaccinated in order to protect their students, colleagues and themselves.”

The Fayette County Public Schools board expects to decide at a Monday meeting whether to continue the district’s existing mask mandate for schools.

At least 25 percent of Kentucky’s 171 school districts had announced by Sunday they will continue to require all students, staff and visitors to wear masks after the passage of Senate Bill 1, Kentucky School Boards Association officials said.

This story was originally published September 12, 2021 at 1:28 PM.