Most school staff in Clatsop County are vaccinated against the coronavirus.

At a news conference Wednesday morning, school district superintendents gave updates on vaccination rates and the precautions schools are taking to reduce the spread of the virus as in-person classes resumed in the new school year.

Gov. Kate Brown has required teachers and other school staff to be vaccinated by Oct. 18. The mandate is intended to help keep schools open to in-person classes and reduce the risk to students under 12 who are not yet eligible for COVID-19 vaccines.

Superintendent Craig Hoppes, of Astoria, and Superintendent Susan Penrod, of Seaside, said over 90% of their staffs are vaccinated.

“The timeline was tight, but we got on it pretty quick and gave our staff numerous different options for them,” Hoppes said. “I was, to be honest, pleased to see the large number of staff who got vaccinated based on this requirement. We weren’t sure how that was going to go, but a large number got vaccinated based on this mandate.”

Superintendent Tom Rogozinski, of the Warrenton-Hammond School District, said about 87% of his staff are vaccinated, but he expects the number to reach 92% by the deadline.

“As far as the challenges of meeting that deadline, it was a tight window to get a two-dose vaccine … but at least in my experience, it’s very manageable,” Rogozinski said.

Superintendent Steve Phillips, of Jewell, said he believes his staff will reach the 90% mark by the deadline.

Superintendent Bill Fritz, of Knappa, said 92% of his staff are vaccinated and he anticipates the number reaching 95%.

Fritz said the school district will lose a couple of staff members who are choosing to step away due to the mandate.

“We’re saddened by that. We value all of our people, but we also understand that people need to make individual choices,” Fritz said.

School districts are working closely with the county’s Public Health Department to track and respond to virus cases.

“We work together to make sure that there’s consistency between the guidance and the school protocols, and that we’ve covered all the bases without overreacting,” said Margo Lalich, the county’s interim public health director. “We want to maintain perspective. It’s been a little bumpy — as we all expected — coming back to a new school year and yet we’re working through it.”

During the news conference, Hoppes laid out the process of how the Astoria School District responds to virus cases.

“We have, as the other schools do, a procedure and process we put in place where … we identify a case, we contact trace and then based on that contact tracing, we do specific phone calls or in-person meetings with either parents or staff members to let them know of the positive case, or for people who have come in close contact with them that have to quarantine,” Hoppes said. “Then the final step is that we inform our parents at the very end of the day of any cases within our school system for that day.”

While the county has experienced the worst few months of the pandemic, superintendents described schools as safe for students.

“Due to the safety protocols that schools have currently and have had for the last year, schools are the safest place in the community for children to be,” Fritz said. “The likelihood of COVID spread in schools is far lower than the likelihood of spread in our communities at large.”

The Oregon Health Authority reported 14 new virus cases for the county on Wednesday and 15 new virus cases on Tuesday. Since the pandemic began, the county had recorded 2,146 virus cases and 26 deaths as of Wednesday.