CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — More than 2,000 Cherokee County students are in quarantine Tuesday as COVID-19 continues to spread across the county.
Several schools have shut down due to the large number of cases.
Channel 2′s Sophia Choi got her hands on new numbers overnight that shows more than 2,200 students out of the county’s 31,000 student population doing in-person learning are in quarantine.
The district’s superintendent warns more schools could be shut down.
[RELATED: COUNTY-BY-COUNTY: Plans for returning to school this fall]
Some parents we spoke to say they’re not surprised — the spread is happening at high schools.
“These are the kids who have cars and are able to get out and interact,” said parent Roy Sanders. “They don’t listen to mom and dad, so we gotta look at the numbers a little bit better.”
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The latest numbers show 120 active COVID-19 cases, but 150 teachers and student quarantined earlier can now come back to school – if that school is still open.
Etowah, Woodstock and Creekview high schools are all temporarily closed as buildings get a deep clean.
In the meantime, all students will shift to remote learning at those schools.
“I do know of some people who have been quarantined but so far thankfully none of them have tested positive for it,” said Creekview High School student Riley Ball.
This high school is scheduled to reopen on Monday, Aug. 31.
Riley Ball’s mother, Julie Ball, says she hopes the district will take this time to implement new safety measures, including a mask mandate for all students.
“The plan that was released by the school didn’t mandate masks. Probably less than half the kids at Riley’s school wear masks,” Julie Ball said.
The Cherokee County School District has a total 42,000 students.
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