3rd Fulton Schools Employee Tests Positive For Coronavirus

FULTON COUNTY, GA — A third Fulton County Schools employee has tested positive for the new coronavirus, the district said Sunday.

Fulton County Schools said it has been notified about a confirmed case of a staff member at Banneker High School. Because the employee was at school during the last day of classes on March 12, the district said it is notifying the community. Local public health officials will contact people who may be directly affected.

After school was released on Thursday, Banneker High was cleaned and disinfected, and again on Sunday.

Banneker High is one of six sites across the county hosting meal distribution beginning on Monday, March 16 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

"To ensure students in the area receive much-needed nutritional support, Banneker will remain a distribution point for meals," the district said Sunday. "We reiterate the school was cleaned and disinfected already and additional efforts are being made to clean and disinfected prior to staff returning and food preparation beginning on Monday."

The first two cases were confirmed last week, and caused the district to shut down March 10-11 for deep cleaning, before ultimately shutting down until further notice beginning March 16.

The first employee worked at Woodland Middle School and Bear Creek Middle School. Fulton County public health officials notified Fulton County Schools March 11 that an additional employee at Woodland Middle School in East Point has been confirmed to have coronavirus.

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Schools across Georgia shut down due to the new coronavirus, which has nearly 100 cases in Georgia as of Sunday, leaving many students without meals. School districts have arranged for students to still get fed through drive-through services, mobile food buses and lunch drop-offs.

Local school systems have already implemented some limited closures in specific areas to deal with recent presumed positive and confirmed cases of COVID-19. During a press conference Thursday, Gov. Brian Kemp said child care centers, schools, and school districts have the freedom to implement further closures for the next two weeks.

As of Sunday morning, one person in Cobb County has died from the respiratory virus, and the number of confirmed and presumed positive cases of COVID-19 rose from 66 on Saturday to 99 cases in 19 counties.

Kemp on Saturday signed Georgia's first public health emergency declaration. The state of emergency includes price control restrictions for Georgia until April 14 as shoppers scramble to find necessities like toilet paper and cleaning supplies.

On Saturday, Kemp issued an executive order authorizing Adjutant General Tom Carden, at the request of Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Director Homer Bryson, to call up as many as 2,000 Georgia National Guard troops to state active duty to address the new coronavirus in Georgia.

The state's lone fatality is a 67-year-old man who was hospitalized at WellStar Kennestone after testing positive for COVID-19 on March 7, authorities said. In addition to being infected with coronavirus disease, the victim also had underlying medical conditions, a news release said.

Presumed positive coronavirus cases in Georgia as of Sunday include: Dougherty County, Clayton County, Clarke County, Newton County, Henry County, Polk County, Gordon County, Fulton County, Cherokee County, Floyd County, Polk County, Bartow County, Cobb County, Gwinnett County, DeKalb County, Fayette County, Coweta County, Lee County, Lowndes County and Charlton County.

Globally, more than 169,000 people have been infected and more than 6,500 people have died from the new coronavirus, Johns Hopkins reported Monday morning. Of that total, more than 3,700 confirmed cases are in the United States. There have been 59 deaths in the U.S. have been tied to the virus outbreak.

See more:

• GA Schools Offering Meals To Students During Coronavirus Closures
• Coronavirus School Closings In Georgia: List
• GA Coronavirus: ATL Bans 250+, Services Continue, Student Meals