800 students in quarantine in one Georgia school district. It opened a week ago

Cherokee County schools have been in session less than two weeks, and the district has already instructed more than 800 students to quarantine after COVID-19 cases were reported at 19 different schools.

Forty-two staff members must also quarantine after possible exposure to the virus, according to the district’s weekly coronavirus status report. The webpage is updated every Friday and shows the number of absent students and staff due to a positive test result.

In all, 925 students and staff have been ordered to quarantine.

The school district, located north of Atlanta, began notifying employees, students and their parents of confirmed cases at their respective schools as thousands across the county returned to classes Aug. 3. Since then, 38 students and 12 faculty/staff members have tested positive for the virus, data show.

More than a dozen COVID-19 infections were linked to Etowah High School. The metro-Atlanta school gained national attention early last week after a “back to school” photo showing a group of senior students standing shoulder-to-shoulder went viral on social media. None of the teens were wearing face masks.

The photo was one of several that sparked criticism of schools’ reopening plans amid the pandemic.

On Tuesday, Cherokee County schools announced plans to temporarily halt in-person learning at Etowah High School at the end of classes Aug. 11. In-person classes will possibly resume Aug. 31, officials said in a news release.

District officials are now using contact tracing to identify who and how many people need to quarantine for two weeks, according to the district’s website.

“For all cases, once a positive test is confirmed, contact tracing is conducted, and all affected students’ parents are notified,” the district said. “If a student’s exposure to a student or employee who has tested positive meets the Department of Health’s requirements for mandated precautionary quarantine, parents/guardians will be immediately advised.”

The parents of all students in the students’ or teachers’ class are also notified, followed by a letter to a the entire school community.

“We are not hesitating to quarantine students and staff who have had possible exposure to a student or staff member who has tested positive,” Barbara Jacoby, spokeswoman for the Cherokee County School District, told McClatchy News in a statement. “We are closely monitoring for connections between cases as well as staffing levels at schools.”

COVID-19 outbreak shutters Georgia school where photos showed students without masks

Jacoby also pointed to the district’s comprehensive reopening plan, which she said puts a solid system in place to address “anticipated positive tests.” in the district.

“The closure of a school is an option noted in our reopening plan that will continue to be considered,” she added.

The district said it has taken a number of measures to ensure the safety of its students and staff, including encouraging teachers to wear masks when social distancing isn’t possible and staggering dismissals to reduce volume in the hallways, among other things.

However, local parents like Jamie Chambers have taken issue with the district’s decision to make masks optional and criticized the Cherokee County schools’ reopening plan as “an objective failure.”

“Etowah High School has sent all students home for the rest of the month — meaning with the rest of the partial quarantines, there are thousands of students suddenly at home, and families had no ability to plan for it,” Chambers told McClatchy News. “I can’t imagine much quality education going on in an atmosphere of anxiety and chaos. We all agree that kids need to be in school, but it needs to be done with health and safety as the top priorities.”

Chambers, who penned an open letter to the Cherokee County School District last month, further accused district leadership of ignoring “the most important measures to protect students, teachers, and staff from infection.”

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp recently decided against a mask mandate for schools, despite increasing COVID-19 cases among students and staff.

“There’s definitely going to be issues when you open anything,” the governor said Monday, according to Georgia Public Broadcasting. “We saw that when we opened businesses, we’re seeing that when we open schools.

“I’m a firm believer that the local governments know their schools better than the state government does,” he continued, adding that the reopening of classrooms across the state has gone “real well.”