The number of active COVID-19 cases in the Cobb County School District nearly tripled in a week, with the bulk of new cases concentrated in its elementary schools.
The district documented 551 overall school-based cases, up from 185 reported on Aug. 6.
Broken down, the district on Friday reported 319 active cases in elementary, 91 in middle and 141 in high schools.
The school with the highest number of active cases is East Side Elementary School with 46. On Wednesday, the school moved its entire fifth-grade class to virtual learning through Aug. 20 due to a spike in COVID cases.
Last week, Cobb’s elementary schools accounted for 86 cases, while 47 cases were in middle and 52 in high schools.
With an estimated 107,000 students, Cobb is the second largest district in the state. Masks are optional in the school district, but strongly encouraged.
On Thursday, parents calling for a mask mandate in schools rallied outside the district headquarters. They were greeted by demonstrators with bullhorns who oppose any mask requirement.
As of Friday, Cobb’s website showed a cumulative count of 822 coronavirus cases recorded since July 1, which is up from 253 reported last week. School-by-school cumulative numbers reflect cases counted since the 2021-22 school year started Aug. 2.
One state lawmaker is joining parents in their call for the district to require masks in school due to the surge in COVID cases. In a letter written Friday to Superintendent Chris Ragsdale, Rep. Teri Anulewicz, D-Smyrna, said the rise in coronavirus cases shows the district doesn’t have a “realistic path forward to continue in-person learning.”
Anulewicz also called on the district to require all unvaccinated employees be tested for COVID-19 twice a week.
In recent weeks, Georgia has seen an uptick in coronavirus cases due to low vaccination rates and the highly contagious delta variant, health officials said. Children under age 12 are not eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Cobb’s two-week case number per 100,000 people on Thursday climbed to 493, according to the Friday newsletter of Cobb & Douglas Public Health.
Dr. Janet Memark, the director, said “we have a severe problem on our hands,” with the county’s positivity rate hovering at 12.8% and hospitalizations being seven times higher than what they were in June.
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