Brantley County school closes after staff test positive for COVID-19

BRANTLEY COUNTY, Georgia – A Brantley County elementary school has closed after staff members tested positive for COVID-19 or had to self-isolate due to possible exposure to the virus.

According to an article on the district’s website, Hoboken Elementary School, located near Waycross, Ga., Closed on Friday and will remain closed until August 24.

“Although no student at Hoboken Primary School has reported testing positive for COVID-19, we have had adults who have had to be quarantined due to positive test results or exposure. The district wrote in a statement to parents. “We will use this time for mitigation measures to slow / decrease the spread of the virus.”

Brantley County was one of the first school districts in our viewing area to reopen on August 6. On Friday, it also became the first school to close.

“While we understand that the spread of COVID-19 will occur both in the community and in schools, our school system will be diligent in our efforts to be extremely careful and ensure that we are doing everything possible to reduce the burden. spread, ”the district wrote. “For this reason, Hoboken Elementary School will follow safety plans, briefly closing the school and transferring students to distance education during this time.”

The district said the school closings were part of its COVID-19 mitigation plan that was developed over the summer. The plan called for brief school closures if the system isolated clusters of COVID-19 in some classrooms or schools.

The neighborhood was not immediately available for comment on Monday morning.

“There are few or no other positive cases in the other schools in the system,” the district said. “School officials will continue to work with Ga DPH to determine if the number of positive cases indicates the need to temporarily close a school for a few days to thoroughly clean and prevent students and staff from mingling for a short time. . These decisions will be made school by school. “

Masks are encouraged but not mandatory in Brantley County schools, according to the district’s plan to reopen.

According to the latest figures from the Georgia Department of Health, 17% of the 272 coronavirus cases reported in the county with a population of just over 19,000 have occurred in the past two weeks.

A total of eight people have died from complications from COVID-19 and 20 people have been hospitalized since the start of the pandemic.