Corinth School District reports eighth COVID-19 case among students

At least 116 students and teachers are quarantined in Corinth, Mississippi, after numerous COVID-19 cases were reported since opening schools for the fall semester.

Friday, the district reported its eighth COVID-19 case among students, the seventh in Corinth High School. The other reported student case was in Corinth Middle School. Cases have also been reported among school staff.

The Corinth School District was among the first to begin school in the state, with a start date of July 27. Reportedly, the district put all the necessary precautions in place, from testing students’ and staff temperatures every morning, to wearing masks and social distancing.

Lee Childress, the district’s school superintendent, has no plans to change course.

“Just because you begin to have positive cases, that is not a reason for closing school,” Childress said in a Facebook live broadcast Tuesday.

The district is contact tracing any student or teacher who tests positive.

“Our nurses, teachers and administrators have been able to take the seating chart and information from activities that we have had and conduct that contact tracing in a very expeditious way,” Childress told WAPT Friday.

Corinth is not the only school in the nation to confront the realities of COVID-19 contagion in school settings. For example, in Gwinnett County, Georgia, the state’s largest district, 260 district employees were barred from reentering schools because of either testing positive for the coronavirus or being in close contact with someone who had, The Washington Post reports.

Tuesday, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves ordered schools in eight counties to delay their openings for two weeks. A day later, the Vicksburg Warren School District announced a two-week delay due to “growing concerns about safely opening schools due to the delayed delivery of important personal protective equipment for students and staff.”