Over 260 Georgia School District Employees Tested Positive Or Were Exposed To Coronavirus

The largest school district in Georgia said Monday around 260 employees have either tested positive or been exposed to coronavirus, highlighting the potential difficulties schools across the U.S. may face as the Trump Administration pushes them to open.

“As of last Thursday, we had approximately 260 employees who had been excluded from work due to a positive case or contact with a case,” Gwinnett County School District spokeswoman Sloan Roach said in a press release. “This number is fluid as we continue to have new reports and others who are returning to work.”

“Through tracing, we know that the majority of these cases are the result of community spread, meaning we have people who have called in to report who have not been at school or work.”

As of Monday, Georgia has over 179,000 confirmed cases and 3,773 reported deaths from the coronavirus pandemic. Gwinnett County accounts for 17,781 confirmed cases and 240 reported deaths.

The outbreak came to the district’s attention after pre-planning meetings for the start of classes on Aug. 12 began on Wednesday.

Students would continue attendance online for the time being while teachers will be required to work out of classroom, requiring at least one to two weeks of pre-planning. Roach said there were health and cleaning guidelines were in place and they were all being followed, despite the outbreak. However, several teachers, whose names have not been released, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that meeting areas had not been cleaned between meetings and not everyone present was wearing masks.

The outbreak also highlights the risk involved with reopening schools as the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise across the U.S. Both President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have been vocal about reopening schools for the new school year, despite health officials warning of the risk it poses to students and teachers.

“When you have such surges of disease in the community, you’re basically asking for trouble if you open schools, because you’re bringing in individuals from all across the community that potentially may be exposed to it,” Dr. Tina Tan, a professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University, said during a July 23 conference call hosted by the Infectious Disease Society of America.

“It’s imperative that people pay attention to what the rate of infection is in the community because that’s going to drive whether or not it’s safe to open schools.”