Cobb schools report 241 new COVID cases as total nears 1,000

Over the last two weeks there have been 241 new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported in the Cobb County School District.

Last week the district didn’t provide its usual weekly update due to the Thanksgiving holiday, but on Friday provided new numbers that show nearly 1,000 cases that have been reported overall.

There have been 962 cases confirmed by Cobb and Douglas Public Health since July 1 in the Cobb school district.

A total of 675 of those cases among students and staff have been reported since students began returning to campuses in early October.

The most recent report includes confirmed COVID cases at 67 schools in the 113-school Cobb district. They are being reported at 37 elementary schools, 16 middle schools and in 14 of the district’s 17 high schools.

All of them are reporting 10 or fewer cases, as has been the case since the district began providing the weekly updates.

Also on Friday, the Cobb school district updated health and safety resource information, including quarantine guidance, that you can find here.

In East Cobb the following schools have confirmed new COVID cases over the last two weeks:

Elementary: Addison, Brumby, Davis, East Side, Eastvalley, Garrison Mill, Keheley, Mt. Bethel, Mountain View, Murdock, Nicholson, Rocky Mount, Sedalia Park, Shallowford Falls, Timber Ridge, Tritt;
Middle: Daniell, Dickerson, Dodgen, East Cobb, McCleskey;
High: Kell, Lassiter, Pope, Sprayberry, Wheeler.

The newest figures for the Cobb school district come as community spread of COVID-19 continues to increase in the county and Georgia.

Georgia Department of Public Health figures as of Friday show a 14-day average of 332 cases per 100,000 in Cobb County, much higher than the “high” community threshold of a 14-day average of 100 cases per 100,000.

That figure dropped to around 100 early in the fall, but has been steadily going up.

On Friday, Dr. Janet Memark, the director of Cobb and Douglas Public Health, issued a “surge alert” expressing concern about “an alarming number of cases being reported to public health this week. The timing is right for the beginnings of the results of any activities over the Thanksgiving break.”

Also on Thursday, Cobb and Douglas Public Health figures showed that 501 people have died in Cobb County from COVID-19, and 110 in East Cobb.

More than 27,000 COVID cases have been reported in the county since March, and another 346 cases were reported on Thursday.

No schools or classes in the Cobb school district have been closed for COVID reasons since the return of face-to-face learning. During a Cobb Board of Education meeting in November, Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said he would determine possible action along those lines on a case-by-case basis, and does not anticipate returning to all-virtual learning.

The fall semester ends on Dec. 18 and the spring semester starts on Jan. 6.

Parents of Cobb school district students had until last Friday to choose between in-person and remote learning options for their children for the spring semester.