Kalamazoo county has over 50 hospitalizations on children and adolescents since the start of the year in one school system.
Monday is the first day of school for many schools in Kalamazoo County.
The county is one of several in the state with a school mask mandate in place.
Jim Rutherford is the health officer for Kalamazoo County. He says more than 50 kids and adolescents have been hospitalized in the county with COVID since the start of the year.
“These are kids that are very sick. They come into the emergency room, they have to be intubated, they have to be put on ventilation. So, you know while to some people that may not sound like a significant amount of kids, but to me it sounds pretty significant.”
Rutherford says so far Monday, he hadn’t gotten reports of schools not following the mask mandate. He was a guest on Michigan Radio’s Stateside.