ODESSA, Texas — COVID-19 is beginning to stretch out local hospitals farther than they've ever been stretched. It's not much different across the country, either.
Experts say we haven't even seen the peak of the omicron variant yet and our schools are far from immune to the spike.
Positive COVID-19 cases continue to soar in both Midland and Ector County ISD.
This week ECISD reported 351 positive cases and MISD has reported over 400 active cases.
On Wednesday during a school district press conference, ECISD Superintendent Dr. Scott Muri said that the district has no plans to close schools or switch to remote learning. That's despite the large number of cases being reported this school year.
"Our parents need us to stay open and our kids need us to remain open," said Muri. "We've seen the impact of school closures on the academic lives of our students. From a health perspective, we've seen that school is the safest place for our kids to be. So, for multiple reasons, we are going to continue to remain open."
Muri said the only reason they would consider closing is due to a safety concern, as in if any ECISD school didn't have enough staff members to operate safely.
"We are closely monitoring every school in ECISD to ensure they have enough staff members to safely operate." said Muri. "If any school in ECISD is not able to safely operate because they do not have enough staff members, we would consider to close. Right now, that is not something we will consider."
Right now, teacher shortages are not uncommon. Muri said the district is learning to adapt with what they have.
"We have multiple teacher vacancies," said Muri. "We have had to pull groups of kids together. For example, multiple third grade teachers might have to pull their students together. Same thing at the middle school and high school level. Teachers during their planning time have had to cover for other teachers' classes."
According to the ECISD website, employees can return to work after being diagnosed with COVID-19 after certain requirements are met. Click here to read more.