Cobb health director urges caution in letter to school parents

*Dr. Janet Memark, director of Cobb and Douglas Public Health*

As the number of COVID-19 cases in the Cobb County School District surged past 1,000 since July, the director of Cobb and Douglas Public Health sent a message to parents urging them to continue to take precautions to slow the spread of the virus.

Cobb County set a single-day record for reported new COVID-19 cases with 375 on Thursday, and on Friday the Cobb school district reported 250 new cases over the last week.

In a letter that went out Thursday, Dr. Janet Memark said that she has “seen little in-school transmission, but we do see weekly increases in the number of cases coming back positive in the school system from out of the school.”

The full letter can be seen at the bottom of this post.

Those 250 new cases were reported in 81 schools, and according to the district’s weekly update, all of the schools reported 10 or fewer cases. All of the 16 traditional high schools in the Cobb school district reported cases this week.

Since July, there have been 1,212 cases in the district confirmed by Cobb and Douglas Public Health. The Cobb school district does not break down the totals between students and staff, nor do the figures indicate how many individuals may be in quarantine due to possible exposure to the virus.

The district also has said it has not closed any classes or schools since students began returning to campus in October.

In her letter—a similar version was also sent to Marietta City Schools parents this week—Memark said the rising cases are causing hospitalizations and ICU bed occupancy to be near capacity, although she did not provide numbers.

She said that more cases are coming into the schools via slumber parties, athletic teams, holiday parties and social gatherings. In addition to wearing masks and practicing social distancing Memark asked parents in the letter “to try to limit the amount of time that your family members have had with those outside of your immediate families. The case rate is too high to let our guard down.”

The fall semester ends next Friday; the spring semester starts Jan. 6, and the Cobb school district said Thursday that 54 percent of current students have chosen the face-to-face option.

There also will be another sign-up window over the winter for the spring semester.

In East Cobb, the following schools reported confirmed COVID-19 cases this week:

Elementary schools: Bells Ferry; Blackwell; Brumby; Davis; East Side; Garrison Mill; Keheley; Kincaid; Mt. Bethel; Mountain View; Murdock; Powers Ferry; Rocky Mount; Shallowford Falls; Sope Creek; Timber Ridge; Tritt
Middle schools: Daniell; Dickerson; Dodgen; East Cobb; Mabry; McCleskey; Simpson
High schools: Kell; Lassiter; Pope; Sprayberry; Walton; Wheeler