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Entire South Ga. school district shuts down due to COVID staffing shortage

LONG COUNTY, Ga. — An entire South Georgia school district is shutting down because of staff shortages due to COVID-19.

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The Long County School System, which is on the far southeast Georgia coast, will be closed Friday before the holiday weekend, officials announced in a statement.

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“We are currently experiencing a critical staff shortage due to COVID-19. The district will observe MLK Jr. Holiday on Monday, January 17th, and reopen on Tuesday, January 18th, 2022. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. We look forward to having our students and staff back on Tuesday.”

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The district has four schools, two elementary schools, a middle school and a high school. Long County has a population of 14,464 as of 2010. Ludowici, the county seat, is about an hour and a half from Savannah.

The County has reported just over 1,600 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, 202 of them in the last two weeks. At least 21 people in the county have died from the virus.