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HS that suspended teen who tweeted photo of hallway has 9 COVID-19 cases:
North Paulding High School in Dallas, Georgia, sent a letter to parents Saturday, saying, "At this time, we know there were six students and three staff members who were in school for at least some time last week who have since reported to us that they have tested positive." The letter was published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Most or even all of the six students and three staff members who tested positive could have had the virus before the school reopened on Monday, August 3. As Harvard Medical School explains, "The time from exposure to symptom onset (known as the incubation period) is thought to be three to 14 days, though symptoms typically appear within four or five days after exposure," and "a person with COVID-19 may be contagious 48 to 72 hours before starting to experience symptoms."
[...] As we reported Friday, the school issued a five-day suspension to student Hannah Watters after she posted a photo to Twitter, noting the "jammed" hallways and "10 percent mask rate." The school lifted her suspension after extensive media coverage. One other unnamed student who was suspended for a similar reason also had the suspension reversed, the Journal-Constitution said.
Students attended class in person only on Monday through Wednesday, as the district said it conducted a short first week "so that all of our schools can step back and assess how things are going so far."
Update at 6:50pm ET: North Paulding High School announced Sunday that it has canceled in-person instruction for Monday and Tuesday, August 10 and 11, because of the nine positive cases and "the possibility that number could increase if there are currently pending tests that prove positive." The school said that on Tuesday evening, parents and students will be notified about whether in-person instruction will resume on Wednesday. Remote learning will continue while the school is closed.
Previously:
(2020-08-08) Pupils Who Shared Photos of Packed Corridor of Maskless Georgia Students Suspended
(Score: 2, Disagree) by shortscreen on Wednesday August 12 2020, @06:14PM (2 children)
That's the big question mark. TFA doesn't say anything about whether these cases are at risk of serious health consequences. If the virus isn't harmful to kids then it isn't a reason to close schools. From what I've heard (which isn't much), a tiny number of teenagers have been hospitalized, but kids under 10 haven't had problems at all. If that is true, then maybe it would make sense to open elementary schools and leave high schools closed. Someone needs to look at the hard data and make a decision (but not this school administration which has already proven themselves to be incompetent in just one week).
As for staff, they are adults and should make their own choice. If doing their job would be too much of a risk, they should be replaced by someone else who can do the job. Someone will say that is "not fair" but it wasn't fair to any of the other people that lost their jobs either, viruses don't care about fairness. Meanwhile, the public is paying for a service and if that service isn't being delivered then they're being ripped off, and that goes double for parents who will need someone else to watch their children so they can go back to their own jobs.
Last but not least, even if schools are closed that doesn't mean kids won't be a vector in spreading the virus. If the kids aren't at school, large numbers of them will be at some other day care facility, or they'll be clogging up public places, or they'll be at home with older and more vulnerable relatives.
On second thought there is another difference between elementary schools and high schools that might be worth considering. The young kids typically stay in one classroom with the same classmates for most of the day, whereas high school kids rush back and forth through the building and sit down in a different room with different people each time. The "musical chairs" approach to schooling seems particularly ill suited to this kind of situation.
(Score: 3, Informative) by sjames on Wednesday August 12 2020, @11:05PM
A number of kids have suffered from something similar to Kawasaki Disease (which has a non-zero fatality rate) and some have died. The best explanation for relatively few kids being affected is that schools went virtual in the spring and they have been on summer vacation since then.
As for teachers, they should be able to work from home (as well as their students). Neither should suffer from official's stubborn unwillingness to live in realityland.
(Score: 2) by dry on Thursday August 13 2020, @04:39AM
And the trauma of having brought the disease home that killed their parents? Or even the worry? And kids are worried about it.