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There was a spike in COVID-19 cases in the Chambers County School District when CCSD uploaded its latest numbers on Friday. Lead Nurse Loretta Cofield reported that 65 students and 15 staff members were positive for COVID, while 148 students and 15 staff members were quarantined. In comparison, on Wednesday of last week, Cofield said she had reported that there were 10 staff members and 17 students with COVID-19 to the ADPH COVID school dashboard the previous day.

CCSD Superintendent Casey Chambley said all CCSD employees and students have been wearing masks since their return to school on Wednesday, Jan. 5.

“We are masking as well as continuing to sanitize and encourage students to wash hands and socially distance as much as possible,” he said. “We are constantly evaluating our data, and there is always the possibility that we move to a virtual model for a few days. It all depends on the numbers.”

Chambley attributes the rise in cases to the contagiousness of the Omicron variant and people gathering together for the holidays. He believes having students return to school in person after the winter break was the right decision.

“We are seeing far more quarantines due to being exposed to family members than we are positive student cases,” he said.

Chambley stressed that anyone who feels sick should stay home and contact their school nurse as soon as they can.

Several commenters on social media requested that virtual school become an option.

On Saturday, Jan. 8, CCSD posted a link to an article about a study on remote learning.

The study, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, found that learning loss is much greater in districts that go fully remote.