The Habersham County School System is taking extra steps to prevent potential spread of coronavirus, even though system leaders have no reason to believe there has been exposure.
“We do not have any students or staff in quarantine in the Habersham County School System,” Superintendent Matthew Cooper said Monday. “To our knowledge, we do not have any students or staff who have been tested for coronavirus. We do have a teacher who recently traveled outside the country to an area not considered high risk by the CDC.”
Because of that travel, that person is out of school for the moment.
“In our new system action plan for the coronavirus we are requiring any student or staff member who has recently been out of the country to self-monitor at home for a minimum of 14 days,” Cooper said. “A staff member at South Habersham Middle School is currently following that protocol. We have no reason to believe that the staff member has the coronavirus or that any students are at risk. We chose to take this action out of an abundance of caution and to alleviate any concerns parents would have. The principal has personally contacted the parents of the students with whom this staff member works.”
Cooper said system officials feel good about Habersham County’s policy, which is more stringent than in other systems.
“Ordinary practice in other school systems seems to be to only flag those who have visited high-risk countries as determined by the CDC,” Cooper said. “However, in Habersham County, we want to be extraordinary when it comes to keeping our students, staff, and community safe. Therefore, we have decided that anyone who travels outside the U.S is at risk because of close quarters with people who are in airports, airplanes, cruise ships, etc.”
The Habersham County School System Coronavirus Action Plan can be found at this link.
