COVID-19 cases continue to decline in Hall County Schools

COVID-19 cases in the Hall County School District are down 70% from their peak in early September, and the number of schools requiring masks is now zero, Superintendent Will Schofield said in a video update last Friday.

According to information on the district’s website, there are 93 confirmed cases and 103 quarantines as of Monday, September 27.

“We will continue to hope that the trends will continue,” said Schofield. “I want to thank our supervisors, I want to thank all of our schools for the containment measures they continue to take to prevent the spread.”

In early September, the district reported about 450 confirmed cases, Schofield said in an interview, doubling its previous case record during this delta wave. The previous record was set in December 2020 with 198.

A few weeks ago, a dozen schools requested masks to help curb the spread of COVID-19, despite the district as a whole maintaining its policy of optional masks.

“Again, I’m not interested in a mask debate,” Schofield said in the video update. “For 50 years it has been pretty clear that masks don’t prevent much, especially cloth masks. However, we do know that this masking slows the spread of airborne diseases. And we’ve also learned over the past 19 months that masks are incredibly negative, especially for our youngest learners. ”

Schofield has said that one of the main reasons for leaving masks optional is that they can negatively impact students’ mental health and hinder the social development of young children.

The Centers for Disease Control continues to recommend universal masking in schools. In a recent report, the CDC noted, “Counties that did not require school masks saw a greater increase in pediatric COVID-19 case rates after school than did counties that required school masks.

In other news, the district is testing the use of UV light air filters in some of its schools and has bought about 20 units, Schofield said, each costing about $ 2,000 and paid for with CARES funds.

“We know the UV light treatment works,” said Schofield. “The question will be how good and how scalable it is in a 100,000-square-foot school building.”

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine confirm the claim that “UV light destroys the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19”.

The units will be set up in the communal areas of East Hall High School and the Chestnut Mountain Creative School of Inquiry, with expansion planned to include more schools, said Facility Assistant Jeff Dale. He said the units would be bought by Price Industries, a company in Winder, Georgia.

Schofield encouraged people to get vaccinated, saying “The data seems extremely clear” that those who are vaccinated are far less likely to have a severe case of COVID-19. “That’s not Dr. Will, ”he said. “These are just mere data that if you have been vaccinated against COVID you are not likely to end up in the intensive care unit at the local hospital.”

He also begged people to stay home if they felt sick or had symptoms related to COVID.

“Of the few outbreaks we’ve had this year, some of them have been traced back to students who were unwell, some even with excellent COVID tests in their immediate families,” Schofield said. “And again, I just want to beg you, I would ask you if you are not doing well, if your child is not doing well, please stay home, get tested, make sure you are well goes before you get to school. We can all do that for each other. “

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