A Middle Tennessee school received a generous donation from a community member to help in their fight against COVID-19.
Roger Biles runs a medical equipment business in Warren County and decided to extend his courtesy to Warren County High School to donate an "anti-COVID entry tunnel," per WKRN. The tunnels, which have been used in places like stadiums and other facilities around the country, include a hand washing station, a mist to decontaminate the person, and a temperature gage to see if they have a fever.
According to Warren County Schools Superintendent Dr. Grant Swallows, the school plans to use the tunnel primarily in its athletic facilities, at least at first, and see how well it performs.
"Primarily I believe in our weight room initially just to see how that kind of goes because as you can imagine, and locker rooms and athletic facilities there are lots of germs anyway, but certainly during COVID so we're gonna put ours in there and see and get that all squared away," said Dr. Swallows. "We really appreciate the Biles family thinking of us and we're excited about that addition to our system."
The donation comes just days after a teacher at Warren County High School died from COVID-19, WKRN reports. Swallows said losing math teacher John Upchurch was "a big loss" for the school and the community, especially since the school had lost a custodian to the virus about three weeks prior.
"It's tough on any community dealing with loss. It's just tough," he said. "But certainly, when you're in your school community, where you're so close, and work so closely together, it's tough."