MOBILE, Ala. (AP) – Despite a surge in COVID-19 cases in Alabama, state Superintendent Eric Mackey said he wants schools to return in-person class after Thanksgiving holidays.
“We will do everything we can to avoid widespread closures of physical schools,” Mackey told WALA-TV.
The state’s COVID-19 school dashboard was updated Friday to show nearly 2,300 cases last week in public schools compared to to about 1,600 last week. Cases have more than doubled in two weeks.
While a statewide switch to virtual learning is off the table, the state superintendent says individual schools could switch to all virtual learning as a last resort. Two school systems where cases rapidly increased, Alexander City and Marshall County, switched all their schools to virtual learning temporarily. Some other individual schools also have stopped in-person instruction temporarily.
Two school systems announced Friday that at least some of their classes would be going to hybrid schedules after Thanksgiving because of rising virus numbers. The Hoover school system said all students will attend two days a week, with all students staying home on Wednesday, through Jan. 18.