Fulton County Schools teacher tests positive for coronavirus; schools closed today

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — An employee with the Fulton County School System has tested positive for coronavirus, officials said Monday.

[READ: Parents say they’re upset over lack of communication from Fulton schools over coronavirus closures]

Fulton County School Superintendent Dr. Mike Looney said the Georgia Department of Health notified the district Monday morning that an itinerant teacher who works at Bear Creek Middle School in Fairburn and Woodland Middle School in East Point had tested positive for COVID-19. The teacher was at school Friday when he fell ill. Staff members called 911 to take him to the hospital, where he has been ever since.

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As soon as they were made aware of his diagnosis on Monday, the school system immediately dismissed the impacted schools, plus Creekside High School in Fairburn because it shares several staff members with Bear Creek.

Looney said they are now working to identify all students and staff who came into contact with the teacher.

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All schools and offices will be closed Tuesday with additional closures being decided.

“This closure will allow us to clean and sanitize affected schools as well as share additional details of our ongoing plan,” officials said in a statement. “Updates regarding this concern will be shared via additional emails and the district website.”

State School Superintendent Richard Woods says the next steps will be announced by 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Kipp Academy said because of the Fulton County announcement, they too are going to close campuses on Tuesday.

“KIPP Metro Atlanta Schools share services and staff which require us to consider every stakeholder across our community when making decisions about closures for our schools,” the school system said in a Facebook post. “As a result, we also announced the closure of KIPP South Fulton Academy while we determined the impact to our other KIPP schools located throughout Fulton County."

The school system said many of their teachers and staff travel between schools, and out of an abundance of caution, there will be no classes in any of their metro schools on Tuesday. Those schools include:

KIPP WAYS Primary School

KIPP WAYS Academy

KIPP Vision Primary School

KIPP Vision Academy

KIPP STRIVE Primary School

KIPP STRIVE Academy

KIPP Soul Primary School

KIPP South Fulton Academy

KIPP Atlanta Collegiate

KIPP Woodson Park Academy

The latest local cases of coronavirus

Six people in Georgia have been confirmed to have the coronavirus by the CDC.

• 3 cases in Fulton County. Two are family members under home quarantine after person traveled to Italy. Other victim is hospitalized. Source of their infection is unknown
• 1 in Floyd County under home quarantine. Source of virus unknown.
• 1 in Cobb County. Person traveled to Italy and is under home isolation with mild symptoms
• 1 in Polk County. Person is hospitalized and source of infection is unknown

There are now 11 total presumptive positive cases in the state.

• Fulton County: 2
• Cobb County: 3
• Fayette County: 1
• DeKalb County: 2
• Gwinnett County: 2
• Cherokee County: 1

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Coronavirus outbreak: What you need to know Coronavirus outbreak: What you need to know

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