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.
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.
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“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.
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