A surge in positive COVID-19 cases has forced the Gilmer County School System to implement mitigation efforts.
As of Wednesday morning, there are 68 positive cases in the system and 60 are students. One staff member is in critical condition, according to superintendent Dr. Brian Ridley. Additionally, 630 students are currently quarantined.
Ridley plans to roll out safety measures in an incremental manner in an effort to “isolate the variable.” The first step the school system has taken is the requirement of masks/facial coverings for all staff and students on buses, effective Monday, Aug. 23.
“Rather than implement everything at once, we want to know what works,” Ridley said. “Some people might say, ‘Well, if it’s that important, why don’t you do it immediately?’ It is that important to do it immediately, but it takes a minute to get all the masks distributed and make sure everyone is aware because we don’t want to surprise anybody. That creates confusion and conflict.”
In the interim, the system will continue to communicate its plan with parents as it gets masks to bus drivers in preparation for Aug. 24.
“We’re going to look and see where our data is on Friday (Aug. 20), let the masks do what they do next week and then check the data on Friday (Aug. 27) again,” Ridley said. “We’re expecting to see a decrease, and if we see it going in the right direction, then we’ll keep doing masks on buses. If it moves in the wrong direction, we’ll move on to the next step.
“What everyone needs to know is, we do not want to do any of these things. These are all things that get in the way of instruction, but all of these efforts are things that if we do them, the CDC says we don’t have to quarantine kids and send them home. That is the key to keeping our schools open.”
For Gilmer students exposed to the virus outside of school, the system will calculate a return date with seven, 10 and 14 day quarantine options and send this information home to parents.
Those exposed at school, the system will report contacts to DPH and send home the letter provided with return dates calculated. If DPH provides different information, parents should let the system know.
Vaccinated students who are exposed will not be quarantined following the 10th day after full vaccination. An exposed person with a documented COVID positive within the last 90 days will not be quarantined. Students who are masked during their exposure will not be quarantined.
Positive staff and students will quarantine for 10 days and must be fever free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medications with an improvement of symptoms.
“We want to protect our kids, keep them safe and keep our schools open,” Ridley said.