More than 2,600 Mississippi students and teachers quarantined due to COVID-19

As schools begin to reopen across the state of Mississippi, the cases of school-related COVID-19 are beginning to stack up as well.

State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs said Monday that cases have already been reported in schools for 71 of the state’s 82 counties, and that is before most schools started their fall semesters. Thousands of Mississippi school children went back to school yesterday, including those in the Vicksburg Warren School District.

As of Monday, 245 teachers and 199 students have tested positive for COVID-19 in Mississippi, Dobbs said, adding that 2,035 students and 589 teachers are quarantined because of exposure to someone diagnosed with the virus.

Dobbs was speaking during Gov. Tate Reeves live news conference where the governor announced free COVID-19 testing for teachers and an expansion of telehealth into schools, a real benefit for many schools that lack on-site medical staff.