During a news conference, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, with the Mississippi State Department of Health, stated that over five people in the Corinth School District in Mississippi have tested positive for COVID-19.
As a result, Dobbs says that more than 100 students in the school district have to quarantine for at least two weeks.
In a letter to parents posted on their Facebook page Wednesday (Aug 5), Corinth School District said that those who came in close contact with an individual from Corinth Elementary School and Corinth Middle School had been notified with further instructions.
“We have had an individual test positive at Corinth Middle School. Contact tracing at the school has been completed, and anyone in close contact (someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for 15 minutes or more) with this person has been notified,” the letter read.
The same information was given to people who may have come in contact with a Corinth Elementary employee who also tested positive.
It ended with,
“If you were notified, your child will need to quarantine for 14 days from the last known contact. While quarantining, your child may not attend school or any school activities. However, they should continue working digitally [to] be counted present.”
Two days prior ( Aug 3), the school district stated that two people from the high school had tested positive, totaling five positive cases reported at the high school.
The school district resumed in-person classes on July 27. Before that, parents were given the option to either have their child return to traditional learning or do virtual learning. According to the district, students have a nine-week period, where they can begin or end the virtual learning model.
As part of the district’s reopening plan, all staff, parents, and volunteers have to wear a face-covering while in the school building, while teachers must wear one in all common areas and during interactions with students. It also stated that both students and staff are to be “screened daily upon entering the building with temperature checks.” Staff is required to answer questions every day regarding whether they have recently experienced flu-like symptoms.
