Schools

COVID Outbreak Forces Paulding School Online Through Wednesday

A Dallas elementary school is doing all of its learning online for now, thanks to a COVID-19 outbreak that infected nearly 90 students.

PAULDING COUNTY, GA β€” An elementary school in Dallas has gone all-online at least through Wednesday after more than 94 students and staffers contracted COVID-19 in just two weeks.

A message posted to the Shelton Elementary School’s website said that remote learning would give staffers time to β€œthoroughly disinfect and fog” the empty building, as well as allowing students and staff time to recover.

According to WSB-TV, β€œnearly 90 students” became infected with COVID-19. The school’s total enrollment is about 1,200. Paulding County schools don’t mandate masks for students or staff.

Find out what's happening in Dallas-Hiramfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

The Georgia Department of Public Health reported Monday that 180 Paulding County residents have died of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic last spring. The county’s current 14-day case rate β€” the number of new cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 persons over the last 14 days β€” is about 491. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines any 14-day case rate greater than 200 as a β€œcore indicator” for high risk of transmitting COVID-19 in schools.

Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.