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COVID-19 numbers have dropped drastically locally, and that’s reflected in the latest figures from the Troup County School System.

According to its Friday update, 10 students and 8 employees at TCSS currently have COVID-19. Those numbers are among the lowest totals since at least the week before Thanksgiving. 

As of Friday, there were 118 students in quarantine and 23 staff members in quarantine. The number of quarantined students is the lowest total since Jan. 8, but that was when students were first returning to school after Christmas break and makes it hard to compare. Just one week later, on Jan. 15, the number of quarantined students had ballooned to 648. 

The high during the 2020-2021 school year was 901 quarantined students on Dec. 18, a week before Christmas and the final measurement before the holiday break.

Excluding the week students returned from the holidays, TCSS had at least 311 students in quarantine all but one week in updates from Nov. 17 to Feb. 9. 

The numbers started declining in the Feb. 16 update and have continued to stay low since then. 

The number of quarantined staff members — at 23 on Friday —is at its highest total since Jan. 29. However, that number has also declined considerably from the holidays. 

From Dec. 4 to Jan. 29, at least 31 staff members were in quarantine each update, with the high being 62 on Dec. 15.

“I am extremely encouraged by the reduction in our overall positive COVID cases as well as the number of quarantined students and staff,” said TCSS Superintendent Brian Shumate. “I believe this a testament to our staff, students and families who continuing with all safety precautions as well the effectiveness of the vaccine across the county. I encourage everyone to continue to exercise all safety precautions that we have in place and to not relax. We still have a long way to go to get our staff and more of our community vaccinated. We are looking forward to the day when we can beat this thing, and please continue to support our students and staff as we continue through this school year.”

REST OF THE 

COUNTY

Outside of the school system, COVID-19 numbers continue to decline, though Troup County saw a two-week high for new cases on Thursday.

There were 28 confirmed cases on Thursday, the highest since Feb. 7 in Troup County. The seven-day moving average is 18.7 cases per day, and there have been 5,506 total cases of COVID-19 in Troup County since the start of the pandemic. Statistically, that means nearly 8 percent of Troup County residents have had a known case of COVID-19, though that would not factor in anyone who has had multiple cases. 

There have been 162 total deaths, ranging from an 18-year-old male to people 90 and older.

The state of Georgia as a whole had 3,551 new cases on Thursday and has had 812,612 total cases over the course of the pandemic.