Etowah High School in Cherokee County will close until the end of the month as administrators try to contain the rapidly-growing COVID-19 case count at the school.
The school made news last week after scores of students without masks were pictured shoulder-to-shoulder in a group photo on the first day of school.
The school will be closed until Aug. 31.
“As of this morning, the number of positive cases at the school had increased to a total of 14, with tests for another 15 students pending; and, as a result of the confirmed cases, 294 students and staff are under quarantine and, should the pending tests prove positive, that total would increase dramatically,” Cherokee Superintendent Brian Hightower announced Tuesday afternoon.
The photograph, along with pictures of crowded hallways in the nearby Paulding County School District, drew national condemnation. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a chorus of infectious diseases experts had been saying for months that social distancing and masks were the only real tools available to prevent the airborne spread the coronavirus.
“As your Superintendent, I wear a mask whenever I cannot social distance. We know all parents do not believe the scientific research that indicates masks are beneficial, but I believe it and see masks as an important measure to help us keep schools open,” he wrote.
State School Superintendent Richard Woods has said schools can mandate that students wear masks. So far, Cherokee has not, requiring only that teachers don them.
“I believe in our community,” Hightower wrote. “I see your support in every chalk drawing outside our schools and gift basket delivered to our teachers and email about your child’s smile returning after disappearing in March. I have communicated with numerous parents, students, employees and community members who have offered their support as we attempt to continue to keep our school facilities open for teaching and learning. We are better together. We are stronger together. We are in this together, and we will get through this together.”
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