260 employees in Georgia school district have tested positive for Covid-19 or been exposed
The situation in Gwinnett is fluid, GCPS spokeswoman Sloan Roach told CNN in an email Sunday evening.
“As of last Thursday, we had approximately 260 employees who had been excluded from work due to a positive case or contact with a case,” Roach said. “This number is fluid as we continue to have new reports and others who are returning to work,” she added.
The district — which is in the metro Atlanta area and is the largest in the school system in the state — is set to reopen with online learning on August 12.
Roach did not say if the newly identified positive cases have changed the district’s reopening plans.
There is already a reporting and tracing process in place as well as a protocol for excluding employees who test positive or come into contact with a confirmed case, Roach said.
Roach said because of the tracing process the district determined that the majority of these 260 cases were the result of community spread. “We have people who have called in to report who have not been at school or work,” she said.
“Given the number of COVID cases in Gwinnett we would expect to see positives among our employees based on the community spread in our county,” Roach said.
CNN’s Madeline Holcomb contributed to this report.