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.
[Download the WSB-TV News app for breaking news alerts]
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.
[READ: 100-plus disinfectants that may kill coronavirus on surfaces]
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
[Georgia officials preparing part of state park for coronavirus patients isolation]
This browser does not support the video element.