COVID swarms Kershaw schools with more than 1,000 students quarantined, 200 more cases

More than 1,000 students have been quarantined in Kershaw County schools and at least 215 have tested positive for COVID-19 just two weeks into the new school year.

The number of students quarantined makes up more than 10% of the district’s students. Also, at least 24 teachers and staffers have contracted the virus and six more are quarantined, according to the school district’s coronavirus dashboard.

The school district has a student population of 10,099. As of Thursday afternoon, 1,149 students have been quarantined.

“We’re trying to do everything we can to put an edge on this,” Superintendent Shane Robbins said. “I hate it.”

Wearing face masks are optional at the Kershaw County School District, despite the increasing rate of kid infections. Richland 1 schools require masks, while Lexington-Richland 5 does not. A proviso added to this year’s state budget forbids schools from requiring students to wear masks.

Robbins said the law stopped his district from enforcing masks but that schools are taking other measures, such as re-installing plexi-glass inside several classrooms, conducting temperature checks and sanitizing and deep cleaning efforts. The district has also helped set up five vaccination sites, leading to more than 1,000 people getting their shots, he added.

At least 502 students at elementary schools have been quarantined, while 86 elementary students and 14 staffers have tested positive for the virus. Middle schools have the fewest students quarantined with 261 and 57 confirmed cases. Six staffers and teachers at those facilities also have the virus.

At high schools, 60 students and one staffer has tested positive, while 332 students are quarantined. Other facilities are reporting a combined seven COVID-positive students and staffers.

Lugoff-Elgin High is reporting the most positive cases with 33 and the most students in quarantine with 197. The most positive cases among staffers is at Blaney Elementary with four. The school also has the second-most quarantined children in the district with 146.

While the quarantine numbers are high, Robbins said, the percentage of those kids testing positive is small. Just 2% of the district’s student population has tested positive, and many are due to contacts made outside of schools, he said.

Children are getting COVID-19 at nearly twice the rate that they were at the height of the pandemic between December and February in South Carolina, data shows.

At least 13.5% of cases reported on Thursday were children aged 10 and younger. Individuals who are between the ages of 11 and 20 made up 17% of the new cases, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

More than 673,000 people across S.C. have tested positive for the virus and more than 10,000 people have died.

Health officials strongly recommend wearing a face mask and, if they are able, getting the coronavirus vaccine to help limit the spread of the virus. The state currently has a 46% vaccination rate, one of the nation’s lowest.

This story was originally published August 19, 2021 at 10:11 AM with the headline "COVID swarms Kershaw schools with more than 1,000 students quarantined, 200 more cases."

Andrew Caplan

The State

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Andrew Caplan is a watchdog journalist who hails from Florida. He comes to The State Media Company after winning several statewide awards for investigations on elected officials and government entities. He holds a master’s degree from the University of South Florida.