From The Tribune staff reports
MONTGOMERY — The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) has updated the COVID-19 Schools K-12 Dashboard.
As of Sept. 3, there were 9,195 positive cases in public schools across the state. That number doubled over the past week from 4,337, although State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said the first week, last week, could have had incomplete numbers because not all school systems reported.
St. Clair County Schools is still not included on the list but Trussville City Schools and the Jefferson County School system were included in this week’s numbers.
Trussville City Schools (TCS) reported 51 cases this week and Jefferson County Schools reported 621.
TCS said it is a top priority to continue in-school instruction in order for students to get the most out of social, emotional and academic education. The system said it is following guidelines from the Alabama Department of Public Health’s Toolkit.
While surrounding systems have put mask mandates into place, Superintendent Pattie Neill said in a BOE meeting Tuesday that prevention strategies by schools are working. The superintendent said the first week of school, there were 44 students and 4 staff members on the COVID positive list. In the second week, there were only 14 students and one staff member on the list.
“There are school systems with mask mandates that have higher numbers of COVID positive cases than we do,” Neill said.
Neill said the situation could change and if it does, the school system is prepared.
As for Jefferson County Schools, faculty and staff must wear masks on school campuses, at least until Oct. 1, to try to slow the spread of COVID-19 and the delta variant.
The board asked that parents and employees report COVID-19 positive diagnosis or symptomatic exposure to the appropriate school nurse.
According to the BOE guidelines, COVID-19 positive and/or symptomatic exposed individuals must meet the following criteria before returning to school/work:
● Must be isolated for at least 10 days after symptoms first appear
● Must be fever-free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications at the end of the 10
day period
● Improvement of all other symptoms
The following COVID-19 positive were reported in other school systems:
Birmingham City Schools 257
Blount County Schools 199
Cullman County Schools 187
Hoover City Schools 200
Montgomery County 209
Pell City Schools 190
Shelby County Schools 567
Tuscaloosa City Schools 132
Tuscaloosa County Schools 481
Vestavia Hills City Schools 90
