The Cobb County School District is reducing the quarantine period for asymptomatic staff and students who are considered “close contacts” of those with COVID-19 from 14 to 10 days, effective Monday.
In a statement issued Friday, the district said the decision was based on guidance from Dr. Janet Memark, the director of Cobb and Douglas Public Health.
What that means is that individuals who show no symptoms after 10 days of isolation and who have not been tested can return to school.
You can read the full statement by clicking here; the district noted that the Centers for Disease Control is still recommending 14-day quarantine period for asymptomatic people exposed to those with COVID-19 “to be safe.”
The district statement said that if an asymptomatic person experiences even one symptom of fever, chills, shortness of breath, coughing or loss of taste and smell and two symptoms from the following conditions: sore throat, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, chills, muscle pain, extreme fatigue, a severe or very bad headache, new nasal congestion or a stuffy or runny nose, they should follow symptomatic guidance.
Cobb schools returned to classes this week after going all-virtual the week before, due to what the district said were high COVID case counts and high numbers of students and staff being out due to quarantine.
Also on Friday the district updated its weekly COVID case totals to include 384 new cases for the past week. Since last July 1 there have been 3,168 confirmed cases of the virus, with the vast majority coming since students returned to campuses in October.
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.
Earlier this week three Cobb school board members sent a letter to Gov. Brian Kemp asking for teachers to be prioritized for the COVID vaccine, and two days later Cobb superintendent Chris Ragsdale joined other metro Atlanta superintendents in asking for the same.
But Kemp’s spokesman said there aren’t enough vaccines as it is for the current phase, which includes seniors and first responders.
At an emotional Cobb school board meeting last week, following the deaths of three of their colleagues, teachers asked to remain all-remote or to allow teachers with health issues to teach from home.
Since in-person classes resumed in October, teachers have been required to teach from their schools.
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