Georgia School Resumes 1st Day Of Classes, Student Tests Positive For COVID-19

Georgia School Resumes 1st Day Of Classes, Student Tests Positive For COVID-19

An elementary school in Georgia opened its doors to students on Monday for the first day of the 2020-21 academic year — also the first time since the coronavirus pandemic broke out in March.

Hours later, a Grade 2 student tested positive for COVID-19, forcing the classroom at Sixes Elementary School in Cherokee County to close and the teacher and 20 other students to quarantine for two weeks.

“This is the first COVID-19 positive case reported among our students and staff since we reopened schools on Monday morning,” a spokeswoman for the school told the Cherokee Tribune. “Contact tracing was conducted, and all affected students’ parents have been notified.”

About 14 kilometres away, another elementary school in the district — Hasty Elementary School — said a student in Grade 1 tested positive for the virus on Monday.

In a letter sent to parents on Wednesday, the school’s assistant principal said although there was exposure, the classroom will remain open.

“All students who have been deemed a ‘close contact’ received a personalized contact from school,” the letter stated. “We have required all ‘close contact’ student and/or staff members to quarantine for 14 days effective immediately; however in this instance, the exposure will not require the closure of this class.”

On Wednesday, a Grade 8 student at Dean Rusk Middle School (also part of the Cherokee County School District) tested positive for COVID-19. The school’s principal wrote parents a letter letting them know of the exposure.

And an entire kindergarten class at R.M. Moore Elementary School in the same district was sent home Wednesday to quarantine for 14 days after a teacher showed symptoms of COVID-19.