Students had the briefest taste of fresh air at Sweet Apple Elementary School in Fulton County, but a rise in the number of COVID-19 cases there means masks will again be mandatory.
Under pressure from parents, the school district had recently made masks optional at 35 schools with low case rates.
But from Nov. 5 to 11, there were 11 infections recorded among students and staff at Sweet Apple, who number 881 in total. That brought the rate in the Roswell school to 1.2%, exceeding the 1% threshold that triggers the mask mandate, the district announced on Twitter Friday afternoon.
Masks will be required at Sweet Apple next week. “If circumstances dictate additional steps, we will notify the school community immediately,” the announcement said.
The school was responsible for one in seven cases reported districtwide over that period. Only Roswell High School had more cases — 12. But with triple the population, the rate was only half a percent.
The total case count for all schools in Fulton was 77, up from the 50 reported the week before. The district’s highest case count — 892 — was recorded Aug. 20-26. The lowest — 29 — was recorded Oct. 22-28.
Sweet Apple students and staff may not have to wear masks for long. Fulton Superintendent Mike Looney said last month that he would lift the district’s mask mandate a month after young students became eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was authorized for children aged 5-11 two weeks ago.
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