'This will be a tough year': Thousands of kids are in COVID-19 quarantine across the US, and school has just begun

Just days into the new school year, thousands of kids are under quarantine in public school districts after being exposed to COVID-19. 

Cases and hospitalizations among children are on the rise, and the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus makes up about 90% of new infections among kids, according to experts. Children under 12 are ineligible for COVID-19 vaccines, making schools a potentially dangerous environment.

While parents and school officials battle over back-to-school safety measures, schools are overwhelmed with the task of keeping kids safe while attending class in person.

In the past week:

• More than 10,000 students and staff in Hillsborough County Public Schools in Florida have been isolated or quarantined, ABC News reported.
• Nearly 1,000 students and staff in Nashville, Tennessee, were in quarantine or isolation.
• New Orleans School District saw 299 active COVID-19 cases and more than 3,000 students and staff in quarantine, according to district data.
• Ware County in Georgia closed all its public schools after a "sharp increase" in cases. More than 800 students and faculty are quarantining, outlet News4JAX reported.
• 20,000 students are quarantining across Mississippi, a public health official announced.
• Schools in Texas counties shut down because of a shortage of staff members.

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In Texas this week, at least four school districts where masking is optional have temporarily closed because of outbreaks on campus. School administrators in other parts of the state defy orders against mask mandates and require students to mask up. 

The district in Gorman, Texas, was supposed to start school this week but delayed for a week because there were too many cases among students and staff. 

“This decision was not made lightly or quickly, and it was made with the best interest of all students, staff and parents’ safety in mind,” Gorman Superintendent Mike Winter said.

Two other school districts in the state, in Bloomberg and Waskom, shut down temporarily after the first week of classes because too many staff members were out with COVID-19. Iraan-Sheffield Independent School District in West Texas shut down Monday for two weeks, so students and staff could quarantine.

Hillsborough County Public Schools in Florida announced that nearly 6,000 students and staff members were out because of quarantine, necessitating an emergency board meeting to discuss how to prevent further spread, including putting mandatory masking on the table. 

Nearly 1,400 students and staff reported positive coronavirus tests since school started Aug. 10, according to district data. The district has more than 200,000 students. 

Mississippi State Epidemiologist Paul Byers said Tuesday there are about 20,000 students under quarantine statewide. That amounts to 4.5% of the state's public school population.

“These disruptions ... are going to continue for a while," Byers said.

Last week, eighth grader Mkayla Robinson, 13, became the fifth child in Mississippi to die of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. The Raleigh girl died one day after being diagnosed with the coronavirus. Smith County School District Superintendent Nick Hillman said her mother kept her home last Thursday because she wasn't feeling well, and she died Saturday.

She attended Raleigh High School, which has been in session since Aug. 6. Tuesday, Smith County School District reported 104 new COVID-19 cases and 659 quarantines.

About 750 students and 40 staff members are in quarantine in the New Albany Floyd County Consolidated School in Indiana after either testing positive or coming in contact with someone who tested positive. 

Most of the staff in quarantine in that district are auxiliary, according to Superintendent Brad Snyder. The staff shortages have caused the district to miss two or three bus routes per day.

Also in Indiana, Scott County Schools District 1 closed school and transitioned to online classes Aug. 11 "due to the high rate of positive cases and the extremely high rate of students in quarantine," it announced on Facebook. In-person learning is scheduled to resume Monday. 

In Kentucky, Lee County Public Schools Superintendent Sarah Wasson announced schools would temporarily close at the beginning of this week. 

"This will be a tough year, and we don’t want to have to shut down this early, but if we can determine who is positive now, we believe we can stay in school longer," Wasson said.

Contributing: The Clarion Ledger, The Louisville Courier Journal, The Associated Press