30 Cobb schools now reporting COVID-19 cases

10/5/2020 - Atlanta, Georgia - Clarkdale Elementary School students board their school bus at the end the school day in Austell, Monday, October 5, 2020. Cobb County schools, the stateÕs second largest district with about 112,000 students, will begin the first phase of its reopening plan on Monday, Oct. 5. The district will reopen classes to students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade and kindergarten through 12th grade special education students. (Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com)

Credit: Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com

Credit: Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com

10/5/2020 - Atlanta, Georgia - Clarkdale Elementary School students board their school bus at the end the school day in Austell, Monday, October 5, 2020. Cobb County schools, the stateÕs second largest district with about 112,000 students, will begin the first phase of its reopening plan on Monday, Oct. 5. The district will reopen classes to students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade and kindergarten through 12th grade special education students. (Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com)

More than two dozen schools in the Cobb County School District are reporting coronavirus cases.

As of Friday, 25 elementary and five middle schools reported that each has fewer than 10 cases of COVID-19 confirmed by the Cobb & Douglas Public Health Department, according to the Cobb County School District’s website. The health department has confirmed 443 cases of COVID-19 in the district since July 1.

A school district spokesman said Friday that the system is operating with health department guidance and “will continue to take every precaution possible.”

The district previously told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that in order to protect the privacy of anyone who is sick or quarantined, it will follow state Department of Public Health recommendation to not list the number of cases by school if there are fewer than 10. The district also will not indicate whether those with the virus are students or staff members.

Numbers for high schools will be released Nov. 13, a week after the third reopening phase begins for those students, the district said.

Cobb schools will open an online portal Nov. 15-29 for parents to choose if they want their children to attend classes remotely or in-person for the spring semester, which begins Jan. 6. Additional details, such as how to log in to the portal, will be given to parents before the system goes live.

Cobb Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said in a statement that the district is “committed to making decisions based on public health guidance and, knowing this pandemic has impacted each of us differently, to giving parents the ability to choose between a face-to-face and remote learning classroom.”