Paulding County Schools reports first district-wide COVID-19 count

UPDATE: A school district spokesman on Saturday said the results are for the first week of school rather than for the second week, as a document on the district website originally stated. The school district will update its website to reflect that the results were received Aug. 8-9 for students in school Aug. 3-5. The website originally said the case counts were based on a reporting period of Aug. 8-14.

The Paulding County School District had 27 cases of COVID-19 reported in schools this week, the second of the fall semester, according to information posted to its website Friday evening.

The total doubled when counting students and staff who weren’t in their school this week.

The school with the largest number of what the district has categorized as “cases in school” was North Paulding High, which gained national notice last week after at least one student shared photos online of hallways crowded with unmasked students.

The dozen infected in the school spent at least some time on campus this week, according to the data posted Friday, even though the school was closed this week for disinfection. (It is possible the district meant that they were infected there last week, though the reporting period was from last Saturday to Friday, Aug. 8-14. The AJC has requested clarification from a district spokesman.)

There were nine other cases involving students or staff at North Paulding High this week. They fell into a category the district is calling “total cases,” in reference to individuals who may have been off-campus, for instance because they were studying online, or they were identified as close contacts in another case then tested positive while in quarantine.

That category brings the total cases at North Paulding High to 21 for the week, and it lifts the district’s total to 54 cases.