Cobb schools release public health protocols for 2021-22

Public health protocols released Tuesday by the Cobb County School District include a masks-optional policy for all activities and self-isolation requirements for anyone testing positive for COVID-19.

The protocols also state that any student or staff member who “is identified as a close contact will be required to quarantine” in accordance with Cobb and Douglas Public Health and Georgia Department of Public Health guidelines.

The last update for that by CDPH was in December, and that can be found here.

Georgia DPH guidelines about quarantine (read them here) were last revised in May.

(You can read through all the Cobb public health protocols by clicking here.)

Cobb superintendent Chris Ragsdale last week reiterated a masks-optional policy he announced in May, but it was unclear what the extent of that measure would be.

In the guidelines issued Tuesday, the Cobb school district said face coverings that were required for in-person learning for most of the last school year will be “optional for students and staff in school buildings, on school buses, and at extracurricular activities.”

At a Cobb Board of Education meeting last week, parents and students spoke on both sides of the mask issue.

Some other metro Atlanta school districts are continuing mask mandates from last year, but Cobb and Marietta schools are allowing for a choice.

The Cobb policy allows students and staff who wish to wear masks to continue to do so.

The new protocols come out less than two weeks before the start of a new school year.

The Cobb school district said that contract/tracing team members at schools will contact the parents/guardians of students who are identified as a close contact. Parents and guardians also will be contacted via e-mail “if a positive COVID-19 case is identified in their student’s classroom, school bus, or athletic team.”

The district said it will continue to provide weekly updates on COVID-19 cases in the district as it did during the 2020-21 school year.

The Cobb policies call for social distancing indoors “when appropriate and feasible” and will provide hand sanitizer in all classrooms, common areas and school buses.

High-touch surfaces will be cleaned daily and buses will be cleaned and disinfected after both morning and afternoon runs.

In a release, the Cobb school district acknowledged that “students, staff members, or parents may have additional health questions which are unique to you. As a student, please direct those questions to your school nurse. As a staff member, please direct those questions to your supervisor. As a parent, please direct those questions to your local school.”

More details: CCSD COVID-19 information page.