Classes are being suspended Tuesday for one of Georgia’s largest public school districts after a teacher working at two schools in Atlanta tested positive for coronavirus.
The teacher who contracted COVID-19 likely came into contact with students and other employees while working at two middle schools in the southwest metro Atlanta area, said Fulton County Schools Superintendent Mike Looney.
Looney said the teacher “felt ill at work” last Friday and was taken to a local hospital. He declined to give identifying details about the teacher or where the person was hospitalized.
Looney said he did not know how many people the teacher had interacted with since contracting the virus or the teacher’s movements within the local community. He added the district “had not seen an uptick” in student absences lately.
“At this time, because we have now a faculty member that has had a lot of contact with students and employees … we felt it was prudent to pause, to get additional information and to clean,” Looney said.
The schools where the teacher worked include Bear Creek Middle School in Fairburn and Woodland Middle School in East Point, Looney said. Both cancelled classes early on Monday.
A third school, Creekside High School in Fairburn, also closed early Monday since it is located close to the two middle schools, Looney said.
The district includes more than 100 schools in Fulton County with about 93,500 enrolled students and 14,000 employees, according to the district’s website.
Looney said he made the decision to close all schools in the district all day Tuesday to clean and sanitize them. The closure will also give county and state health officials time to assess the extent of contact the teacher had with other people, he said.
At a news conference Monday afternoon, Georgia Schools Superintendent Richard Woods said state education officials are not recommending any other school districts to close right now.
“Georgians can be confident that the safety of our schools are our highest priority,” Woods said.
Coronavirus cases increase in Georgia
News of the school closures came as state officials reported the number of confirmed and presumptive positive coronavirus cases in Georgia has climbed to 12 cases total from several parts of the state including Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett, Floyd and Cherokee counties.
Speaking Monday afternoon, Gov. Brian Kemp said another person from South Korea traveling through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was “displaying symptoms” of coronavirus at the airport. Officials are awaiting the results of his testing, Kemp said.
The governor stressed more people are likely to test positive for the virus as state health officials ramp up testing.
“As the cases become more numerous across the country, we are definitely going to see more cases in Georgia,” Kemp said.
The state lab has tested between 50 and 60 people so far after receiving 2,500 diagnostic kits last week from the federal government, said Georgia Public Health Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey. She said health officials are seeing a pattern of the virus largely affecting elderly people and those with chronic health issues.
On Monday, state and federal officials geared up for Dobbins Air Reserve Base to temporarily host 34 Georgia residents and several others from the East Coast aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship, where dozens of passengers have tested positive for the virus.
The 34 Georgians who arrive at the Marietta-based facility after disembarking in Oakland, Calif., will be monitored in their homes so that they will not have to remain quarantined on the military base, Toomey said.
“This ensures the safety of the public, but it will also give them the comfort of their homes,” Toomey said.
Elsewhere, state health and emergency-preparedness officials have readied a quarantine site at Hard Labor Creek State Park in Morgan County. Seven trailers meant to house coronavirus-afflicted persons have already been delivered to the park and “are operational now if they’re needed,” said Georgia Emergency Management Director Homer Bryson.
Bryson said state Department of Natural Resources officials picked the roughly 5,000-acre park south of Athens due to its central location in the state and the ability to isolate the trailers from the rest of the property. The trailers are owned by the state Department of Public Health, which purchased them “with this intent in mind,” Bryson said.
Toomey added the trailer-quarantine site will host infected persons who are not from Georgia or the U.S. and lack a situation “conducive for home monitoring.”
Georgia joined a growing list of states with confirmed COVID-19 cases earlier this month after a father and his son from Fulton County tested positive for the virus following the father’s trip to Milan, Italy.
The novel strain of coronavirus is thought to spread largely by “respiratory droplets” when someone coughs or sneezes after symptoms are present, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms appear within two to 14 days of contraction and include fever, coughing and shortness of breath.
State Epidemiologist Cherie Drenzek stressed people can only contract the virus from someone who is displaying symptoms.
“Individuals that are not showing symptoms of COVID-19 disease do not pose a risk,” Drenzek said.