System-wide positives decrease
The Gilmer County School System lost a longtime employee after his battle with COVID-19.
John Painter, 53, spent 22 years in Gilmer Schools as a technology technician and died Monday, Aug. 30.
“We’re deeply saddened by his passing,” said superintendent Dr. Brian Ridley, who confirmed that Painter is the system’s first COVID death. “We’re keeping his family in our thoughts and prayers. It’s not a good situation.”
As a system, Gilmer has seen its positive cases and quarantine numbers steadily decline over the past two weeks. Gilmer’s student quarantine numbers peaked at 1,100 Aug. 23, were down to 643 by Aug. 30 and currently sit at 342. There are 144 in modified quarantine, which drops the number of students out of school to 198.
As far as total positive cases, Ridley said the system’s number is currently at 43. That number is down from 70 last Monday after peaking at 127 positives Aug. 23. Of the 43 current positives, nine are staff members.
“Two of those (staff) positives are front office workers that I know of,” Ridley said. “A significant portion of them have been people who do not work directly with kids like front-line people who work in multiple schools and have a lot of interactions with other adults.”
The system made masks mandatory on buses beginning Aug. 23, and also placed an emphasis on social distancing and ramped up daily cleaning procedures. Ridley does not anticipate any changes to the system’s current mitigation efforts but is expecting a possible up tick in positive cases following the holiday weekend.
“I think staying the course is what got us here, and so we’re going to stay with what we got at the moment,” he said. “We are expecting a little bit of a spike post Labor Day. We’re going to continue to monitor the numbers very closely over the next few days and see where we go. If we have to make any adjustments we will.
“As of right now, our mitigation efforts seem to be working. The modified quarantine — kids with masks — it’s keeping them in schools. We think we’ve had a good mix of mitigation efforts that’s keeping our kids in schools and our schools open.”
If any alterations are made, they will take place after the system’s numbers are examined this week.
“(We’ll continue with masks on buses) for the time being,” Ridley said. “It’s going to depend on what we see from the Labor Day search. I’d like to get away from it because it’s just one more moving piece that has to be dealt with. We’ll probably run it a couple more weeks and see where we’re at. If the numbers look good, we’ll try to do without them.”
Pre-K staff and students were back in class Tuesday after the grade was shut down for a week following a spike in positive cases.
“I’d like to thank everybody for their support and patience as we work this out,” Ridley said. “We’re doing the very best we can in a very difficult situation, and we want everyone to stay safe and healthy. We’ll keep making adjustments as we go.”