Cobb schools report 331 new COVID-19 cases; 18 at Walton HS

Cobb ACT results — *Walton has reported 99 confirmed COVID cases since last July, the most in the Cobb County School District.*

As COVID-19 case rates drop in Cobb County, so have the numbers of confirmed new cases in the Cobb County School District—but only slightly.

The district reported on Friday 331 new cases, the lowest one-week total since 470 were confirmed the week of Jan. 15.

Since the district began reporting cases last July 1, there have been 3,499 cases among students and staff. Most have come since students returned for in-person classes in October.

Walton High School in East Cobb had 18 of this week’s new cases, the most for any school in the 113-school Cobb district.

Since last July, there have been 99 cases recorded at Walton, 85 at Lassiter, 83 at Pope and 74 at Kell. At Walton, 64 of those cases have been reported since Dec. 18.

Near the end of the first semester in December, 23 cases were reported in a single week at Walton, before the district announced classes would finish all-remote.

The Cobb school district does not break down the number of students and staff who get COVID, nor does it disclose how many individuals are out due to quarantine.

For a week in January, classes went all-remote due to what the district said were high absence rates for those testing positive and in quarantine.

That also came after the deaths of three Cobb school district teachers since Christmas, and pleas from other teachers to stay virtual.

Nearly two-thirds of the district’s 107,000 students are taking in-person classes during the spring semester that began Jan. 6.

Metro Atlanta school board members and superintendents, including from Cobb, have asked Gov. Brian Kemp to consider moving teachers up in line to receive the COVID-19 vaccines.

But on Wednesday, he said during a press conference in Marietta that the state is running extremely short on vaccine supplies for everyone, including seniors.

“We want to expand the criteria, but it’s just not feasible now,” Kemp said.

The seven-day moving average of COVID-19 cases has fallen in Cobb County from 576 on Jan. 12 to 275 on Thursday, according to the Georgia DPH daily status report

The level of community spread also has dropped significantly in Cobb, to a 14-day average of 562 cases per 100,000 people. In January, that figure was over 1,000.

Cobb reported 268 new cases on Thursday and seven deaths, following 11 deaths reported on Wednesday. Since the COVID pandemic began last March, there have been 51,668 cases in Cobb County and 723 deaths.