Georgia quarantines over 800 students and staff

• The Cherokee County School District in Georgia had to advise more than 800 of its students and staff to undergo quarantine just a week after school reopening.
• A spokeswoman for the district said that they would not hesitate to quarantine who have had potential exposure to the virus.
• It turns out that the district only recommends wearing masks but does not require it.

More than 800 students and staff of a northern Georgia school district had to be quarantined just a week after school reopening.

It was only after the first day of school when a second-grader tested positive for the virus. The Cherokee Country School District advised 20 people to quarantine at the time.

The number of cases soon spiked. The school has since ordered 826 students to quarantine as of Monday night.

The district has about 42,000 students. It now lists about 40 cases in 19 elementary, middle, and high schools. It is still unclear, however, if that number represents only positive coronavirus cases or if it also includes those who were exposed to infected students or staff.

NBC affiliate WXIA in Atlanta reported that the district observes routine contact tracing to determine any possible exposure.

Barbara Jacoby, a spokeswoman for the district, said on Tuesday that they had “a system into place to quickly contact trace, mandate quarantines, notify parents, and report cases and quarantines to the entire community,” in anticipation of positive cases during the schools’ reopening.

“We are not hesitating to quarantine students and staff who have had possible exposure to a student or staff member who has tested positive,” Jacoby continued.

The school district came under scrutiny last week when a viral photo showed some students without masks standing shoulder to shoulder.

Superintendent Brian V. Hightower explained that many students “wear masks routinely, but we must continue to remind all students of the importance of masks when you cannot social distance.”

Apparently, the district only recommends wearing masks but does not require it.

Hightower also wrote in a letter to families that the reopening of schools amid the pandemic “will depend on all of us as a community.”

Meanwhile, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said that “this week went real well” during a press conference on Monday.

Last week, Hilary Porterfield, a “frustrated” parent of a Cherokee school student, told NBC News about her disappointment at the district’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. She pointed out that the number of cases should have already served as a “red flag.”

“It’s just a matter of time before it’s out of control,” she warned.

Source: NBC News