More than 100 Richland 1 staff have been in COVID-19 quarantine this year, data shows
One week before students across Columbia are supposed to return to class for the first time, Richland 1 announced more than 100 school district employees have been placed in a COVID-19 quarantine this school year.
That’s one statistic highlighted by a new daily coronavirus tracker tool that Richland 1 launched on Tuesday, ahead of a planned return to two-day-a-week in-person classes next Monday.
The new online feature gives more details on how many students and teachers have gotten sick and which Columbia schools those cases are connected to.
The initial update posted Tuesday morning shows 131 district employees have been placed in quarantine or isolation since the beginning of the school year on Aug. 31, and 35 students are in quarantine.
The number of positive COVID-19 tests in the Columbia-centered school district is lower than the total number in quarantine, which is a precautionary measure after an exposure to a COVID-positive individual.
In the school year to date, Columbia schools have recorded 19 student positives and 23 employee positives. The district only lists three employees as “active positives,” meaning they tested positive within the last 14 days, and no students fall into that category.
“Richland One’s goal in creating the COVID-19 dashboard is to provide the most accurate and current information possible to our community,” said Superintendent Craig Witherspoon in a press release. “Having the same data allows us all to work together to better protect our students and staff.”
Most cases have been concentrated in the lower grades. Fifteen staff at elementary schools are currently either sick or quarantined, six at the district’s middle schools and six at other district facilities. No high school-based staff have tested positive or are currently in quarantine.
The tracker will be updated daily, more often than the twice-weekly numbers released by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. Lexington 1 launched a similar case tracker last month.
On Monday, the district will begin returning students to school on a two-day hybrid model for the first time since the pandemic hit South Carolina last spring. Students in kindergarten through second grade will return to campus next week, followed by students in grades 3-12 a week later.
Other districts in the Midlands have been more aggressive — Lexington 1 and Lexington-Richland 5 have already returned all elementary schools to class four days a week, and Lexington 2 has announced plans to return to five-day-a-week classes next month.
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