How many kids have caught COVID in Burke, Richmond, Columbia counties
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - As Burke County students begin two weeks of virtual learning, we’re learning the extent of the latest COVID-19 surge’s impact on students there and elsewhere in the CSRA.
- In Burke County Public Schools, 57 students and six faculty have been infected. The school district has 4,011 students.
- In the Richmond County School System, 71 students and 18 faculty have been infected as of Friday. Masks are mandatory in the with 29,093-student district.
- In the Columbia County School System, 103 students and 17 employees cases had been infected as of Friday. Masks are not mandatory in the 28,503-student district but are strongly encouraged.
The Burke County district made the decision last week to switch to at-home learning for a time as an outbreak led to quarantines of three elementary school classes and the high school volleyball team.
A tentative restart date of Aug. 30 is planned.
The situation is similar in Taliaferro and Glascock counties, where schools closed due to the current COVID surge that’s fueled by the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus.
Taliaferro County students are due to return Aug. 30 and Glascock County schools students are to return Aug. 23, both under a mixed at-home and on-campus schedule.
The statistics came as the school year began for many students across the Savannah River of South Carolina. Kids returned Monday in Aiken, Allendale, Barnwell, Bamberg and Edgefield counties, then Saluda County schools start Thursday.
In Allendale County, all students and employees will be required to wear masks, the superintendent announced. The announcement appears to put the district at odds with state officials, who say local districts can’t enact mask mandates.
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HEALTH WORKERS ALARMED: Health care workers in Georgia are expressing increasing alarm and frustration with a surge in coronavirus cases. Phoebe Putney Health System in Albany has exceeded its highest patient count from the state’s last major COVID-19 surge.
HOW HOSPITALS COPE: Once upon a time, rural hospitals in Georgia would see patients of all kinds at all hours of the day or night. Now, to keep COVID-19 from spreading, they’re asking people questions so they can help screen themselves before they just show up there.
BOOSTER PLANS: Warning of tough days ahead with surging COVID-19 infections, the director of the National Institutes of Health says the U.S. could decide in the next couple of weeks whether to offer coronavirus booster shots to more Americans, including the elderly, this fall.
COVID TOLL: The U.S. is now averaging about 650 COVID deaths a day, increasing more than 80 percent from two weeks ago and going past the 600 mark on Saturday for the first time in three months.
JOB REQUIREMENT: Job postings that list COVID-19 vaccination as a requirement shot up 34% in the first week of August compared to the month before according to jobs site Indeed.com.
SHOTS REQUIRED: A rapidly growing number of places across the U.S. are requiring people to show proof they have been inoculated against COVID-19 to teach school, work at a hospital, see a concert or eat inside a restaurant.
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