McConnell wants students in the classroom this fall with conditions

HARRISON COUNTY, Ky. (WTVQ) – Increasingly the debate over students returning to school this fall is creating more concerns for parents and educators.

It’s going to be expensive and require even more change for teachers, students and parents. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell talked about those concerns Wednesday, suggesting Congress understands its responsibility.

The Kentucky Senator visited the Harrison Memorial Hospital where the first COVID-19 case was reported in Kentucky.

Since then health care facilities across the state have been through huge ups and downs. Through what is known as the CARES Act, Congress provided money for hospitals, businesses and individuals to offset some of the financial pain.

“The people that choose to live in rural Kentucky deserve great healthcare and that’s what we deliver and sadly it’s threatened.” That’s according to Sheila Currans CEO of Harrison Memorial Hospital.

Kentucky received 12 billion dollars from the CARES Act with that money going to the state government, hospitals and individuals. Board Chairman of Harrison Memorial Hospital Dr. Stephen Besson describes how the Corornavirus changes their lives, “This is a very unique situation that were in. We had a new disease that was quickly characterized as a pandemic and then all of a sudden nobody is in the hospital.”

With the ongoing pandemic, McConnell stressed the importance of keeping the economy open. The next barrier is getting teachers and students back in school. Paying for those efforts could begin in earnest next week.

“There’s going to be a heavy emphasis on the bill I’m going to introduce next week on education, I know it will be costly. I’ve talked to a number of K-12 educators in our state.” Senator McConnell added, “Probably going to require some rotation of students in and out cause of class size and the number of students and an orientation of wearing masks, but it can be safely done so you have to weigh the consequences.”

Senator McConnell also acknowledged a vaccine against the virus isn’t going to take awhile. He joined the growing chorus saying people should want to wear masks and stop making it a partisan issue.