Marietta students and teachers masking up as they return to the classroom

MARIETTA, Ga. — As cases of COVID-19 continue to rise across the state, Marietta City Schools has imposed a mask mandate.

When students and staff head back to school Monday morning, they will be required to wear a face mask.

The reason for the mandate, according to Superintendent Dr. Grant Rivera, was a combination of 42 students and nine teachers testing positive for COVID-19 and classroom data indicating the problem may get worse.

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Rivera also said the school system would be bringing back their testing site at the Marietta Performance Learning Center on Lemon St. beginning on Monday.

“Every single day I hear from a teacher who says, ‘I can’t get a test,’” Rivera said. “I had a teacher reach out to me on Sunday. She said, ‘I got to the clinic at 7 o’clock in the morning and I waited for 7 hours to get tested.’”

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Several other districts have imposed mask requirements, even as Governor Brian Kemp maintains he will not institute a statewide mask mandate.

Last week, the state of Georgia passed the milestone of having had 1,000,000 confirmed cases of the virus since the beginning of the pandemic.

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While many students across the metro area are being required to wear masks while at school, others still have a choice.

Despite protesters and impassioned pleas at last week’s Cobb County School Board meeting, masks are strongly encouraged but remain optional.

Marietta City Schools reinstitutes mask mandate

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