More than 400 people who are part of Walker County Schools – students and faculty members – were quarantined as of Wednesday afternoon as COVID-19 cases throughout the district slowly rose.
The school district has been publishing weekly coronavirus updates on Friday afternoons since school started in mid-August. Since the start of school, 41 people have tested positive for COVID-19 and 486 people have had to be quarantined because of close contact.
The Friday reports include numbers as of the Thursday before at 5 p.m. Last weeks’ report showed 32 people had COVID-19, while 436 were in quarantine.
At first glance the numbers seem high, but Superintendent Damon Raines said they represent a small percentage of the whole district. The 41 cases represent just .55% of the 7,508 staff members and students now enrolled in school that are in the buildings. The 486 that have been quarantined represent 6.47%.
Raines said at Tuesday night’s school board meeting that only five of the 41 positive COVID-19 cases were “school-related cases.”