Georgia School Opening: Class Quarantines After Second Grader Tests Positive For COVID-19

A whole class of second graders in Georgia went into quarantine after one of the students tested positive for COVID-19.

The day after a school in Georgia reopened, it announced a second grader tested positive for the disease, forcing the child's classmates and teacher to go on self-quarantine for two weeks. In-person classes started Monday, Aug. 3, at the Sixes Elementary in the Cherokee County School district. However, by Tuesday, one of its classrooms was closed temporarily for deep cleaning, WGCL-TV reported.

In the past, parents were at loggerheads with school officials regarding proposals of resuming in-person classes amid surging cases of coronavirus infection across the nation. While health experts were still in the process of investigating how kids spread the bug, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci emphasized schools need to incorporate safety measures into their reopening plans.

Cherokee County recommends children should wear face coverings in school in case social distancing is not possible, CNN reported. Based on the reopening plan of the school district, they would only make masks mandatory if there was a statewide order requiring the use of face coverings. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp resisted the attempts of the mayors in various cities in the state to mandate the use of face masks. Cases linked to schools have broken out in Georgia even as a couple of schools opted for an all-remote class for the year.

Several schools in Georgia were in the limelight recently after photos of crowded halls surfaced on social media. Optional mask policies of two suburban school districts in Atlanta, which started in-person classes also Monday, came under heavy scrutiny after on-campus photos showed students packed shoulder-to-shoulder.

In Cherokee County, photos of senior students squeezing together for their traditional first-day-of-school mementos also circulated on social media. The students, according to pictures taken at the Etowah High School in Woodstock or Sequoyah High School in Hickory Flat, were not wearing face masks.

In Paulding County, photos of students taken Monday and Tuesday showed packed hallways at North Paulding High School, with fewer than 50% of students wearing masks. Critics widely ridiculed the photos on social media, although some residents in the state voiced their support.

Brian Ottot, Paulding County Superintendent, in a statement sent through email Tuesday said the photos were accurate. However, he emphasized the district is following the guidelines of the state and added students need to stay in the hall longer than a few minutes for them to catch the virus, CBS News reported.

The superintendent also defended the decision of the district of making masks optional. "Wearing a mask is a personal choice and there is no practical way to enforce a mandate to wear them," Ottot wrote in his email.