Updated COVID-19 numbers among area schools

As COVID-19 numbers across the state continue to rise, local area schools saw their cases in the past week drop, significantly in some cases.

Enterprise City Schools added an additional 22 positive COVID-19 cases in the past week, down from 41 the previous week.

Enterprise Superintendent Greg Faught confirmed to The Sun that ECS has had 103 students and 90 employees test positive since the beginning of school on Aug. 6. That means ECS has had 193 positive tests thus far.

According to Faught, 1,036 students have been sent home to quarantine due to being in “close contact” with another student that tested positive for COVID-19 or displayed symptoms. Of those 1,036 students, only three later tested positive for the virus itself.

Coffee County Schools had seven new cases in the previous week. Zion Chapel School had two student cases, New Brockton Elementary had one student and one faculty case, New Brockton High School had one student and one faculty case and Kinston School had one student case.

Since the beginning of school, on Aug. 10, Coffee County Schools has had 79 positive cases total.

“We are still requesting assistance from our parents/guardians in making sure that all students exhibiting symptoms are kept home until they are tested before sending back to school,” Coffee County Schools Superintendent Kevin Killingsworth said. “I want to remind parents/guardians that no one can test out of quarantine even if a written release is presented to us from a physician.

“I realize the COVID pandemic is stressful on everyone, and complying with all the protocols for an extended period of time is only adding to stress levels; however, it is done with everyone’s health/safety in mind. Coffee County Schools will continue to follow the CDC/ADPH guidelines in our schools.”

Daleville City Schools had five new cases in the past week, while Dale County Schools had 22 new cases and Ozark City Schools had 30 new cases. Elba City Schools had less than five new cases and Dothan City Schools had 15 new cases. Additionally, Houston County Schools 28 new cases.

The Alabama Department of Public Health updates its school dashboard every Friday and can be viewed at https://tinyurl.com/y364n2qo.