Columbia County Schools has confirmed three positive cases of COVID-19 in its first days back to school this week.
The school district sent letters to students at Lakeside, Harlem and Evans high school Wednesday informing parents of the positive cases, according to WJBF. Columbia County Schools District Superintendent Sandra Carraway confirmed the students who tested positive were asymptomatic.
On Monday, when the first case was reported, Carraway said the school district immediately followed protocol for such situations, according to the Augusta Chronicle. According to the district’s reopening plan, the following steps are taken if someone tests positive:
– Alert district office and the director of school health, who will collaborate with the Department of Public Health to assist with contact tracing to determine the requirements for quarantining.
– Require infected staff and/or students to remain at home until they have been released to return to school by their physician or have met the CDC criteria.
– Notify affected families and/or staff while maintaining confidentiality consistent with applicable federal and state privacy laws.
School started in-person for middle schoolers and high school students Monday in Columbia County. The students started on a staggered schedule, with students with last names starting with letters A-K beginning classes Monday. Students with last names beginning with the letters L-Z began in-person classes Tuesday. Elementary students are slated to begin classes Aug. 17.
In the last week, several Georgia school districts have begun classes. Some, including Paulding County, have already reported a number of students testing positive for the virus. Some students have shown just how many students are gathering at their schools this week. In Cherokee County, dozens of seniors gathered at two of the district’s six high schools to take traditional first-day-of-school senior photos, with students squeezing together in black outfits. No one in pictures at Sequoyah High School in Hickory Flat or Etowah High School in Woodstock wore a mask.
Cherokee County School District spokesperson Barbara Jacoby said though students were not wearing masks, the district has encouraged and recommended “students social distance and, when they cannot, that they wear masks inside the school and on buses.”
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