New school COVID cases top 400

DeSoto County Schools (DCS) Monday, Aug. 23 released last week’s coronavirus case and quarantine figures with some stark numbers about students and COVID-19 in the district.

DCS reported there were 406 students with new confirmed cases of coronavirus in the past school week through Friday, Aug. 20 and 1,249 new quarantines during the same period of time. 

Hernando High School led the district with 33 new cases and 57 new quarantines, but there were as many as 232 new quarantines at Southaven Middle School. 

Hernando High School remains in virtual learning mode until it moves to a hybrid mode on Wednesday.  

Schools with high numbers of new coronavirus cases in the school setting last week, Aug. 16-20, were Hernando High School (33), Lewisburg Middle (31), and Oak Grove Central Elementary (30), and Southaven Middle (21). 

No other DCS school had more than 20 new COVID-19 cases, but 12 other campuses reported 10-20 new cases in the past week. 

Southaven Middle led the district with 232 new quarantine reports as a result of close contact with a positive case in a school setting last week. Other high quarantine numbers were from Walls Elementary (129) and Lewisburg Middle (104). 

Seventy staff people and teachers in the district were reported to have had a positive coronavirus test during the past school week.  

District numbers also issue the percentage of the school population with their case and quarantine figures. 

Oak Grove Central Elementary had the highest percentage of the student population with a new positive case of coronavirus at 4.14 percent. Lewisburg Middle was next at 3.19 percent and Hernando High followed at 2.39 percent.  

Nearly 18 percent (17.89 percent) of the Walls Elementary School student body was a new quarantine report in the past week, followed by Southaven Middle at 15.92 percent and Lewisburg Middle at 10.71 percent.  

The complete report on DeSoto County Schools’ coronavirus cases and quarantines, broken down by school, may be viewed on the DeSoto County Schools website.

In Marshall County, Byhalia Middle School Monday reported it will be going virtual for two weeks due to COVID-19 cases among its student body.