2 positive students and 4 staff COVID-19 cases at UCS

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BLAIRSVILLE, Ga – Union County Schools (UCS) released coronavirus, COVID-19 numbers on Friday, August 14. Currently, two students and four staff members have positive cases.

27 students and 17 staff members are currently under quarantine for possible exposure.

Students and faculty return to in-person instruction on August 17, and the students and faculty under quarantine or with positive cases won’t be in attendance. According to school policy, only those who test negative for COVID-19 can attend in-person class.

According to the school’s policy, anyone who tests positive can’t return for “at least 10 days following the onset of COVID-19 symptoms or receiving a positive test result AND be fever-free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication AND have an improvement in respiratory symptoms.”

Quarantined individuals must stay home for at least 14 days even if symptom-free. If they develop symptoms, the quarantine may be extended from symptoms onset. Also, students with a confirmed diagnosis in the home will be quarantined an additional 14-days from when the family’s quarantine time ends.

If hospitalized or severely immunocompromised from the virus, students must stay home “at least 20 days since symptoms first appeared AND be fever-free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications AND have an improvement in respiratory symptoms.”

While quarantining from home, students can participate in the online learning program.

UCS will be providing a weekly COVID-19 update concerning positive cases and possible exposures. These updates aren’t meant to alarm but provide public information.

Face masks are highly recommended for all students and will be available to students and faculty on campus. Students will be required to wear face masks during class changes, school nurse visits, and safety drills.

Each week the school buildings will be deep-cleaned over a three day period.

To review UCS’s reopening plan, follow the link, here.

As for closure, UCS is following Georgia’s Department of Education (GaDOE) District Decision Tree.

State Board of Education hold off on delaying school

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delayed start

NORTH GEORGIA – During Thursday’s Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) meeting, the state board of education opted not to discuss a delayed school start of September 8.

For now, school start dates still remain in the hands of local school districts. Many have already pushed back the first day of school for either a couple of days or a week.

First District State Board Member Mike Long expressed his belief that children need to be back in school and to “get the schools open as quickly as possible.”

He also spoke about his concerns that some school systems are not prepared to go back to work. Board members received information that some schools aren’t meeting safety guidelines, such as social distancing or mask mandates.

Long added that no one has any data to properly gauge the situation.

Long spoke at length about the return to school and the need to properly serve Georgia’s children.

Attendance policies were also discussed concerning virtual practices, but exactly how students will be held accountable for attendance remained unclear.

The meeting was supposed to be held via live stream but moved to a call-in webinar. The state board could announce a delayed start during a called meeting.

Original Story below:

NORTH GEORGIA – Georgia STEM’s reporting that during tomorrow’s Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) state board of education meeting, they will consider pushing the school start date back to September 8. This would be a statewide mandate.

STEM added that the measure has the support of Gov. Brian Kemp.

If pushed back, GaDOE will accommodate several districts’ delayed starts, and the Georgia High School Association’s (GHSA) decision to move the start date of football.

However, GHSA hasn’t yet delayed other fall sports.

The GaDOE state board meeting will take place tomorrow at 10 a.m over a live webcast.

Fetch Your News will update this story as soon as more information becomes available.

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