Madison schools switch to online
The Madison County School District has transitioned two schools from in-person learning to virtual learning after spikes in COVID-19.
On Wednesday, seventh graders at Madison Middle School transitioned to virtual learning until Dec. 2, with sixth and eighth graders remaining on campus.
“We are taking proactive steps to stop the spread,” Superintendent Charlotte Seals said. “We have seen case numbers rise quickly among the Madison Middle School seventh grade, and while we want to remain on-campus in school, we know moving to distance learning for this group of students is the right decision to stop COVID-19 from spreading.”
Seals said the recent cases have been traced back to off-campus social gatherings.
On Friday, the district closed Germantown High School and moved to virtual learning until after Thanksgiving after a rise in COVID-19 cases.
Tracing there, too, also showed an increase due to off-campus social gatherings.
Madison County came out from under a mandatory COVID-19 mask order last week and this week was immediately put back under one by Gov. Tate Reeves.
Public and private schools within Madison County continue to cope with COVID-19 as nearly 200 students were quarantined due to COVID-19 exposure during Nov. 9-13, according to a new report from the Mississippi State Department of Health.
Germantown High School, which has now reported 30 positive cases since classes resumed in September, had 99 students quarantined that week.
Germantown Middle School had 100 students quarantined and 12 total cases of the virus. Madison Middle School, which has reported nine positive cases, had another 15 students under quarantine during the same period.
Madison-Ridgeland Academy has confirmed 32 cases of the virus and had 15 students quarantined. Ridgeland High School has 18 confirmed cases and another 14 quarantined.
Velma Jackson High School, St. Anthony Catholic School, Madison Avenue Elementary, Luther Branson Elementary, Camden Elementary, and Ann Smith Elementary are the only schools that have had zero cases to date, according to MSDH.
On Tuesday, the state reported 1,593 new cases and 20 new deaths.
In Madison County, 4,402 total cases have been identified, up over 200 from the week before. There have been 99 deaths here attributed to the virus, up three from last week.
In total, 137,396 Mississippians have either been confirmed or presumed to have COVID-19, with 3,601 total deaths.