Barrow County School System: BCSS COVID-19 Protocol Update

Press release from the Barrow County School System:

August 18, 2021

As we did last year, BCSS leadership monitors the state and local Covid-19 data and numbers and the data from each of our schools closely on a daily basis. We are also in ongoing contact with staff at the GA Department of Public Health. Unfortunately, the overall community spread level in the Barrow County community, as a whole, is higher than this time last year. 

As we learned last year, the best data and insight we have available with which to make decisions centers on what is going on inside our schools. Thankfully, the current numbers of student and staff positive cases remain relatively low across the system at a current number of 0.65%. Each school is different, of course, with some reporting higher numbers and percentages and others lower. The weekly numbers can be accessed on our website here.

In keeping with this, and due to the increase we are seeing in student and staff close contact quarantines in several schools, we are moving forward with a few essential changes beginning Thursday, August 19, 2021. We are taking these steps to best support our commitment to safeguarding the health and safety of our students and staff and the crucial aspect of maintaining in-person learning as we work to provide the best possible educational setting for our students. 

As a new protocol, if a school reaches a threshold of over 1% of its population with positive COVID-19 cases, all staff and students will be required to temporarily wear masks indoors at school and on the school bus. Please note this will not be a long-term requirement. It will be rescinded as soon as the school falls below the 1% threshold for a week (five (5) consecutive school days not counting weekends).

BCSS will also return to the consistent system-wide implementation of our COVID-19 Health Precautions in all schools and facilities, especially in the area of Physical Distancing and Minimizing Exposure. These precautions specifically include:

Please review all other measures listed on our website at COVID-19 Health Precautions.

COVID-19 spread models have indicated that we may see the peak of this recent upswing sometime in mid-September. Assuming those models are accurate, we encourage schools to delay and/or schedule indoor gatherings in October to have the safest event possible. 

While no single intervention is perfect at preventing the spread of COVID-19, there are personal actions that each of us can take. Wearing a mask, hand hygiene, getting vaccinated, and staying home when sick, support the overall shared responsibilities we all share that are necessary to benefit our community and schools as a whole. Collectively, these mitigation efforts make a difference towards ending this pandemic. And that’s what we all want, to return to our normal lives without restriction or fear of illness. 

With the increasing COVID-19 spread in our community, we strongly encourage all students and staff to take active precautions to protect themselves and others against COVID-19. 

We cannot stress enough how important it is that parents and guardians do not send students to school if there is even a hint of illness. Your actions may very well be the deciding factor regarding whether we avoid a system-wide masking mandate and/or have to shut a school or schools down for a period of time.

As a reminder, anyone who prefers their student attends school in an online learning model can find that information at the bottom of this webpage. (There are options for K-12 listed that are at no cost to families). 

Thank you all for your support and patience as we continue to adapt to the curves that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to throw at us. 

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This press release was produced by the Barrow County School System. The views expressed here are the author’s own.