Tuscaloosa County schools report COVID-19 cases in 29 of 19,000 students

Since the Tuscaloosa County School System reopened to students on Aug. 20, a total of 29 students across the system have tested positive for COVID-19 and another 308 students have had to quarantine.

That’s out of a total of about 19,000 students across 34 schools, said Terri Brewer, the county school system’s director of public relations.

For staff and faculty, who returned to their respective schools on Aug. 12, fewer than 10 employees have been diagnosed with the disease, Brewer said.

And while the system lacked concrete totals on how many of its approximately 2,275 employees had undergone quarantine, 43  -- or less than 2% -- were listed as absent under the “COVID-19” absence code.

“Of course, it is our hope that none of our students or faculty/staff members would be affected by COVID-19. However, we know the virus is in our community, and that it will impact our schools,” Brewer said. “Considering the highly contagious nature of the virus, we are encouraged that the steps we are taking to reduce risks are effective.”

The 308 students that are in or have undergone quarantine were due to being exposed to COVID-19 as identified by the county schools using Alabama Department of Public Health guidelines.

Brewer said these students were not identified because they displayed COVID-19 symptoms, but rather because they were determined to be close contacts of positive cases within the schools themselves.

From Aug. 20 through Thursday, Brookwood High School reported the highest number of students who have quarantined at 125 of its approximately 1,000 students.

The reason for this high quarantine total is because five positive COVID-19 cases at the school were in students involved in several extracurricular activities, during which students come in close contact with a greater number of their peers, Brewer said.

“Brookwood High School became aware of the positive student cases through parents communicating with the school,” Brewer said. “This type of communication, as quickly as possible, is necessary in fighting the spread of COVID-19 in our schools.”

Brewer said the school system contacted the Alabama Department of Public Health over the COVID-19 cases at Brookwood High School and it was determined that there was no need for additional safety measures at the school, beyond the extensive cleaning and sanitation already being conducted.

“The students with positive cases have not been identified as close contacts with one another at the school,” Brewer said. “Therefore, there is no indication that the students contracted COVID-19 at school.”

District-wide, approximately 65 percent of county school students are still attending school on campus, with some schools have as much as 80 percent of their students on campus.

To maintain this, the county school officials are continuing to encourage and require the use of masks, social distancing, cleaning within the schools, hand washing and quarantine for those who have been exposed to the virus, Brewer said.

“We ask our entire TCSS community to keep maintaining these healthy practices, especially as we move into a long holiday weekend,” Brewer said. “It is our goal to keep our schools open for On-Campus Learning, and we all must keep working together to make that possible.”

Reach Jason Morton at jason.morton@tuscaloosanews.com.