More Than 2,000 Students, Teachers Home Quarantined A Week After Schools Reopen

More than 2,000 students, teachers, and staff members across five states in the US have been home quarantined after at least 230 positive coronavirus cases were reported.

In Georgia’s Cherokee County School District, more than 1,100 students, teachers, and staff members are under quarantine after Covid-19 cases were reported.

The district began in-person learning on August 3, and as of Tuesday reported 59 positive cases.

“It doesn’t sound like this was a successful reopening,” former Georgia teacher Miranda Wicker told CNN.

Wicker has been speaking with teachers in the district who say they’ve asked for safety precautions such as mask requirements, but the district has yet to enforce a mandate.

Also, in nearby Gwinnett County, the state’s largest school district had to quarantine staff before their doors even opened. 

At least 263 employees are in quarantine after 28 confirmed cases as of August 5. 

On July 27, schools in Corinth, Mississippi, welcomed back hundreds of students, and by Friday, one high-schooler tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

By early this week, the count rose to six students, and one staff member infected.

“Now, 116 students have been sent home to quarantine,” a spokeswoman for the school district confirmed.

Other districts that have welcomed teachers or students back have faced similar challenges.

After teachers returned to plan lessons in Georgia’s largest district, 260 district employees were barred from reentering schools because of either testing positive for the coronavirus or being in close contact with someone who had.

In southeast Kansas, six school administrators tested positive after attending a three-day retreat.

And within hours of opening, a school in Greenfield, Indiana, was informed by the health department that a student had the virus.

It’s a scene that has played out in Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Indiana, with school districts there also enforcing quarantines, and it’s left many teachers reluctant to return to the classroom.

“I’m compromising my family,” said Marie Tichenor, adding that her husband has an autoimmune disease which places one at a higher risk of severe illness from Covid-19.

Loading...

In the Philippines, Education Secretary Leonor Briones announced on August 12 the opening for the next school year has been moved to October 5.

“We trust that this is the final adjustment of the school opening. Even with the implementation of modified enhanced community quarantine, we will use this time to make the necessary adjustments and ensure that all preparations have been made for the successful opening of classes,” Secretary Briones added.

However, the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) said on Thursday that some teachers have acquired Covid-19 after reporting physically for work ahead of the opening of classes this school year.

“Marami po sa aming report. In fact, ‘yung iba naman hindi namin ma-validate pero meron po kaming mga validated, confirmed cases,” TDC National Chairperson Benjo Basas said.

The TDC National Chairperson added that other teachers tested positive at a school in Calauag, Quezon, but he claimed they were still asked to report for work by their school head.

Basas said they have already written to the Department of Education (DepEd) about the situation.

READ: Millions Of Vietnamese Students Adapts To New Normal After Schools Reopen

Source: CNN | WashingtonPost | PhilStar