RICHMOND– With deaths and illnesses from COVID-19 mounting across Ray County, and no school mask requirement, the Richmond School District gave students a message: Go to school.

The district later issued a new message. When the district delivered the first message last week, the Ray County Health Department reported 99 active coronavirus cases, nearly double the 54 reported a week earlier. The department further reported 64 deaths, up from 62.

On Tuesday, the district issued the new message: “Due to staff and student illness, Alternative Methods of Instruction (AMI) days will be utilized (now) .... through Friday, Jan. 21. While school is not in session, all activities (athletics… including practices, clubs, concerts, etc.) through Sunday, Jan. 23, will be suspended and attempted to be rescheduled at a later date.”

The district’s original go-to-school message stated a desire to “inspire” students and threatened those who failed to attend without a “documented” excuse, including a funeral. The message stated:

“We will be reinforcing our attendance policy steps. They are as follows:

• “fourth absence, letter will be sent home;

• “eighth absence, letter will be sent home and an administrative conference with child/parent(s);

• “10th absence, the school resource officer will make contact with parent(s); and

• “12th absence, letter will be sent home and a phone call will be made to parent(s) explaining any future days will result in a referral sent to the Ray County prosecutor for attendance court.”

There is no certainty when the latest surge in the pandemic, spurred by the Omicron variant, will peak.

“Recent case forecasts have shown low reliability, with more reported cases than expected falling outside the forecast prediction intervals … and four-weekahead case forecasts,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. “Therefore, case forecasts will continue to be collected and analyzed but will not be summarized until sustained improvements in performance are observed.”

Missouri in the first two weeks of January reported 2,828 more COVID cases than in any other full month of the pandemic. The state’s previous record, 128,949 cases, came in November 2020 before vaccines became available. The new record is 131,777, fueled by an additional 13,135 cases on Jan. 12 alone.

During a September school board meeting, most members of the public opposed requiring masks in school and the board went along.