Decatur, GA — City Schools of Decatur is providing some additional context surrounding reports about COVID-19 cases detected among students and staff.

The school district has reported at total of 18 cases since schools reopened to pre-k through fifth grade students on Jan. 19. The district says out of those cases, two may have been the result of in-school transmission. The district also says it has no plans to stop in-person learning as a result of the cases detected in the school population.

“Since we returned to in-person learning for many Pre-K-5 students, we have had between 1,436 and 1,749 people present in person each day,” the school district said in an email to parents. “A total of 18 individuals attending in person tested positive for COVID-19 over that 11-day period. While contact tracing is intended to prevent further spread by focusing on who had contact with a known positive case, for cases in our district we also look deeper to try to determine where the infection may have originated. After an extensive review of all of these cases, in two of those 18 cases, we cannot rule out the possibility of in-school transmission. The remainder of the cases appear to have originated outside the school system.”

The school district says that it believes its mitigation efforts are working to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the city’s schools.

“Our extensive mitigation efforts are working as expected, and we will not change the current in-person learning plans,” the school district said. “We will continue to carefully monitor all cases and provide updates like this periodically. If you are interested in details about cases, please visit our COVID-19 Reporting Dashboard at https://www.csdecatur.net/dashboard. We update this dashboard throughout the day and night as contact tracing is completed on any given case. If you or your student is exposed to a case, you will be contacted right away; other members of a school community where a case occurs are contacted soon thereafter.”

To read the full message to parents, click here.

The school district has also provided updates to its COVID-19 reporting dashboard that shows the number of people present on campus each day, the number of people quarantined and the number of people who have been isolated on that day.

Here is a summary of all the cases the district has reported so far:

– On February 3, an employee at DHS was identified as a confirmed positive COVID-19 case. The isolation period for this individual runs from February 1 through February 10. No additional quarantine periods were required with this case.

– On February 2, an employee at ECLC was identified as a confirmed positive COVID-19 case. The isolation period for this individual runs from February 2 through February 11. Quarantine periods for eight other individuals identified as close contacts run from February 2 through February 11.

– On February 1, a student at Clairemont was identified as a confirmed positive COVID-19 case. The isolation period for this individual runs from January 29 through February 7. Quarantine periods for 19 other individuals identified as close contacts run from January 30 through February 8.

– On February 1, an employee at FAVE was identified as a presumed positive COVID-19 case. The isolation period for this individual runs from January 28 through February 6. Quarantine periods for 12 other individuals identified as close contacts run from January 29 through February 7.

– On February 1, a student at Talley was identified as a confirmed positive COVID-19 case. The isolation period for this individual runs from January 28 through February 6. Quarantine periods for 15 other individuals identified as close contacts run from January 28 through February 6.

– On February 1, a person at Wilson Center was identified as a confirmed positive COVID-19 case. The isolation period for this individual runs from January 29 through February 7. Quarantine periods for two other individuals identified as close contacts run from January 28 through February 7, but vary by individual due to differing dates of interaction.

– On January 31, a student at Talley was identified as a confirmed positive COVID-19 case. The isolation period for this individual runs from January 29 through February 7. No additional quarantine periods were required with this case.

– On January 30, a student at DHS was identified as a confirmed positive COVID-19 case. The isolation period for this individual runs from January 29 through February 7. No additional quarantine periods were required with this case.

– On January 28, an employee at Clairemont was identified as a confirmed positive COVID-19 case. The isolation period for this individual runs from January 27 through February 5. Quarantine periods for 12 other individuals identified as close contacts run from January 26 through February 4.

– On January 27, a student at DHS (extracurricular) was identified as a confirmed positive COVID-19 case. The isolation period for this individual runs from January 27 through February 5. Quarantine periods for 16 other individuals identified as close contacts run from January 26 through February 4.

– On January 27, a student at ECLC was identified as a confirmed positive COVID-19 case. The isolation period for this individual runs from January 27 through February 5. Quarantine periods for 10 other individuals identified as close contacts run from January 27 through February 5.

– On January 27, a student at Glennwood was identified as a confirmed positive COVID-19 case. The isolation period for this individual runs from January 25 through February 3. Quarantine periods for 11 other individuals identified as close contacts run from January 26 through February 5, but vary by individual due to differing dates of interaction.

– On January 27, an employee at Talley was identified as a confirmed positive COVID-19 case. The isolation period for this individual runs from January 25 through February 3. No additional quarantine periods were required with this case.

– On January 25, a student at DHS was identified as a confirmed positive COVID-19 case. The isolation period for this individual runs from January 21 through January 30. Quarantine periods for six other individuals identified as close contacts run from January 22 through February 4, but vary by individual due to differing dates of interaction.

– On January 25, an employee at Talley was identified as a confirmed positive COVID-19 case. The isolation period for this individual runs from January 25 through February 3. Quarantine periods for 14 other individuals identified as close contacts run from January 27 through February 5.

– On January 25, an employee at Renfroe was identified as a confirmed positive COVID-19 case. The isolation period for this individual runs from January 19 through January 28. Quarantine periods for six other individuals identified as close contacts run from January 22 through January 31.

– On January 22, a student at Talley was identified as a confirmed positive COVID-19 case. The isolation period for this individual runs from January 20 through January 29. Quarantine periods for 43 other individuals identified as close contacts run from January 20 through January 29.

– On January 20, an employee at ECLC was identified as a confirmed positive COVID-19 case. The isolation period for this individual runs from January 16 through January 25. Quarantine periods for two other individuals identified as close contacts run from January 15 through January 29, but vary by individual due to differing dates of interaction.

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