CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A Clayton County middle and high school are starting the year off virtually, although that was never the plan. Several staff members at Pointe South Middle School in Jonesboro and North Clayton High School are in quarantine, according to a statement from the school system.
School was set to begin in person on Monday, August 1 but now students will log in virtually from Monday through Wednesday. The Clayton County School system sent 11Alive a statement saying they are monitoring the situation.
“As Clayton County Public Schools (CCPS) continues to make decisions in the best interest of all students and employees, district leaders will continue to monitor this ongoing situation and will share additional information as necessary.”
Students across Georgia will continue to head back to school over the next week or so with COVID-19 hospitalizations up 50% and deaths up 18% because of the highly contagious Delta variant.
COVID-19 is also causing problems in schools that have already begun. In Atlanta, more than 100 students were quarantined one day after classes began at Drew Charter School on Wednesday, July 28.
The quarantined students at that school are primarily in 2nd, 6th and 7th grades, officials said.
Even still, some parents in other parts of the metro area are protesting for their students to not be required to wear masks in the classroom. Outside the Gwinnett County Public Schools headquarters on Friday, parents demonstrated against the district’s mask mandate.
The Centers for Disease Control released a recommendation that everyone, including people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, should wear masks inside to prevent the spread of the virus. A leaked report from the CDC compared the contagiousness of the virus to that of chickenpox.