900 Told to Quarantine in Georgia School District

A Georgia school district has quarantined more than 900 students and staff members because of possible exposure to the coronavirus since classes resumed last week and will temporarily shut down a hard-hit high school in which a widely shared photo showed dozens of maskless students posing together. The quarantine figures from the Cherokee County School District include at least 826 students, according to data the district posted online. Located about 30 miles north of Atlanta, the district serves more than 42,000 students and began its new school year on Aug. 3, the AP reports. The quarantines have affected at least 19 schools in the district.

The school quarantines were announced a day after Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said that the reopening of some of the state’s schools amid the coronavirus outbreak has gone well—except for the viral photos of students crowded together without masks. The photos showed students in crowded hallways at North Paulding High School northwest of Atlanta and squeezed together for first-day-of-school senior photos at two high schools in Cherokee County, including Etowah, which has had more than 300 students and staff members told to quarantine. Cherokee County School District Superintendent Brian Hightower said the district was temporarily shutting down Etowah High School starting Wednesday and hoped to reopen the school on Aug. 31. (North Paulding High dropped its punishment for the teen who shared photos of a crowded hallway.)