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Schools across Mississippi are scrambling to deal with a surge of COVID cases in the state as they reopen for in-person learning. Nearly 5,000 students and staff members have been forced into quarantine as roughly 1,000 kids, and 300 staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus in the past few weeks.
Several schools were forced to return to remote learning as officials linked 69 coronavirus outbreaks to schools throughout the state. The highest number of cases were reported in Lamar County, where 110 students tested positive during the first week of school. As a result, 841 students had to quarantine over potential exposure to the coronavirus.
To combat the surge, the district's superintendent proposed going back to a hybrid model until the number of new cases declines. Students and teachers who do show up for in-person classes will be required to wear masks until August 15.
"Face-to-face learning is the best way for our children to learn, but I just don't feel like it's safe," district superintendent Steven Hampton said during a school board meeting.
Hospitals and pediatric units across the state are struggling to keep up with the influx of sick patients. Around 90% of the patients being hospitalized are unvaccinated.
"We are seeing numbers more than we ever have before of healthy children that are getting hospitalized," Dr. Alan Jones, University of Mississippi Medical Center associate vice chancellor for clinical affairs and COVID-19 clinical response leader, told CNN.