A recent survey indicates that school employees are contracting COVID-19 at a higher rate than the average Oklahoman.
Speaking as part of a media briefing Tuesday from the Healthier Oklahoma coalition, Oklahoma Education Association Executive Director Carolyn Crowder said a statewide survey of the organization’s members revealed that 27% of school employees have tested positive for COVID-19.
By comparison, 15% of Oklahomans have tested positive.
“Our educators are truly on the front lines of this,” Crowder said.
Additionally, 94% of the survey respondents indicated that at least one student in their building had tested positive for COVID-19 and 82% said at least one colleague in their building had tested positive.
With summer teacher retirements already up 38% year over year, Crowder warned that the shortage could get even worse between the higher exposure rates to COVID-19 and a lack of respect for teachers’ efforts to maintain in-person instruction.
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Almost one-third of the survey respondents said they were looking to leave the profession by the end of the school year, with 15% already actively job hunting for opportunities outside the classroom.
“This year, they feel like the respect has waned because they’re being blamed for things that are out of their control,” Crowder said. “There’s some learning disruption that’s happened but that is largely due to things out of their control. They’re just not getting respected for their methods to keep schools running.”
Teachers are not the only professionals looking at a career change due to the pandemic.
During the briefing, Stillwater Medical Center’s Dr. Woody Jenkins said the turnover rate among the hospital’s registered nurses is more than 20%, thanks in part to the mental health toll extracted by COVID-19.
The hospital is also grappling with a shortage of doctors and nurse assistants, which he pointed out will impact health care needs beyond the immediate crush from the pandemic.
“It is more than about COVID,” he said. “We are going to face staffing shortages in many of the critical needs of our rural health care systems.
“Our hospital has many openings and is competing for very limited pool of nursing professionals. We are really suffering. I hope and pray that those who have left the profession will take some time to recover and then renew and come back to us.”
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